Dance has dated back to 9000 years before our time. It started out with belly dancing and has expanded to many different genres such as contemporary, hip hop, jazz, salsa, and ballet. Many individuals consider dancing to just be a hobby or a way to pass time. Dance is so much more than that. It is a sport. 

New member of the Tiger dance team, Dina Martin, stated, “Yes. You put the same amount of time and effort that you would at any other sport. You try dancing! That’s a lot of work.” 

 It is a way to bring people from all different backgrounds together. It is an art. A way to express yourself. Whatever emotion is building up inside you is released through dance. The way a dancer moves their body tells a story. You can see the passion, the anger, the sadness, the happiness. 

Khymbreighlah Kuykendoll, sophomore, was asked what dancing made her feel. She stated, “Passionate and excited.” Dance is a way to escape whatever is happening in the world around you. You create your own individual world when it’s just you and the music, hitting every move with every beat in the song.

 Dance is about really listening to the words in the music and expressing each word with a different move. Kuykendoll claims that happiness is what she feels when dancing.  Much goes into dancing such as technique, posture, facial expressions, pointed toes, passion through moves, and strength, all of which a dancer has to do at the same time. To be a good dancer, a person has to have strength, motivation, confidence, fluidity, expression, and emotion. These qualities mold into making an efficient dancer.

 When you work as a team, you develop a sense of responsibility as well as having a system of support behind your back. Being on a dance team and developing bonds makes you feel like you have a second family. CHS Dance team member Kuykendoll was asked what it is like to be on a team. She said, “It’s like a whole other family you get to go to and see.” On the CHS dance team, we work hard to meet all of those goals and strive to be an astonishing team each year. Last year we ended the year with four members. We still made it work. 

Last year’s dance team we went to watch our first competition at the Opryland Resort in Nashville, Tennessee. We also participated in the Black History Event at school. 

Our team was small but solid and we made many celebrated memories. The team gradually got compacted. One loss was our former team member Nevaeh Horrel has inconsolably passed away last year. It was hard for all of us, but we have continued to honor her as she will never be forgotten. It has been quite hard to form a solid team over the past couple of years. 

This year we had tryouts on September 22nd. We had nineteen girls try out and out of those nineteen girls, seventeen girls made it on the team. The CHS Tiger dancers now have a complete team and are ready to work hard and make it the best season yet. When asked what it feels like to be accepted as a member of the dance team, Dina Martin stated, “Exciting! I almost cried.” We dancers will work to reach our goals near and far. 

On the central dance team, such as other teams, we start off practices  with stretching, warm-ups, and conditioning, then transition to dancing and technique. Technique includes jumps, leaps, peuroets, kicks, and much more. Coach Jecala Amos has been instructing the dance team for the past three years. Amos was asked why she decided to coach a dance team and she said, “I didn’t know that it was something that I wanted to do until the position became available. I felt like I had the abilities and the strengths to do so and I knew that I would be the perfect fit for the position.”

 Amos has a lot of dance background with a history of jazz, hip hop, ballet, and contemporary. She was asked if she would like to own her own studio. She stated, “ Absolutely. As soon as it is possible, I would love to open up a studio.” She has a passion for dance and very much enjoys choreographing. 

She provides her team with whatever is needed. Martin states, “I like her. She’s really nice. She takes care of everybody so I’m excited to see what she is about.”  Dancing isn’t the only thing to look forward to when you join the dance team. Being committed to a team also means standing by each other and supporting everybody on the team. 

We do many things to bring the team closer together. To pay off for our hard work, we treat ourselves by doing team times where we will exchange gifts, go to entertaining locations such as the movies, out to eat, and even have team sleepovers. This year we will even try to travel outside of the city. Martin was asked how she feels about team times and team bonding. She claims, “I’m excited and I hope it goes well.”  Being a dancer isn’t just about filling the space in time, it’s about bringing happiness, joy, and motivation to yourself and the others around you. 

The dance team has gone through many ups and downs throughout the years. When asked to explain her experience with the dance team, Amos states, “ I would say it has definitely been progress. I feel like iv’e started from scratch. It has been challenging at times but it’s super rewarding to have a team full of young women that want to dance and have a passion for dance.”

 Coach Amos studied to be a choreographer at semo college for a couple of semesters as a dance major and went to Orlando Florida to dance there. “Choreography and dance in general was just embedded in me so it was a natural thing,” she states. Staying fit is important in the world of dance. Former dancer Lasiyah Stone was asked why it is important to stay fit and eat healthy while being a dancer. She claims, “You don’t want to eat junk food or drink sprite before you go out and perform and throw up on the court. You need to be fit because you don’t want to be out of breath during the performance.” Being a dancer comes with a lot of baggage and responsibilities. What qualities do you need to have to be a dancer? Stone states, “You need to have integrity, passion, and motivation.” When you have the passion and dedication for dance, it isn’t just a time consumer, it’s a lifestyle.