The combination of four months of intense practice and a flawless final performance paid off when the jazz dance team took first on February 19 at the state tournament, dancing to the song “Heart of the Matter” by India Arie.
The team’s motto––slow and steady wins the race––proved to be true when they beat their rivals, the Totino Grace E-gals. Just weeks before, the E-gals had taken first in conference beating the Knightettes by 38 points.
For regular competitions there are six judges, but for state there are eight. Each judge has a scoring sheet with different categories on it. “For example there are turns and within that category there is technique and difficulty and you get awarded 1 point for the worst and 10 points for the best,” said captain Alexa Kubinski.
Dance team fans packed the Target Center for the tournament on Friday and Saturday. “Seeing all of our fan’s faces above us was amazing,” said junior Emily Parsons.
The jazz competition took place on Friday afternoon. Twelve teams competed in the AA section, and six made it to finals later that night. Among the top six schools, in dancing order, were: St. Cloud Cathedral, Totino-Grace, Holy Angels, Benilde-St. Margaret’s, Simley and Holy Family. After the prelim round, the Knightettes trailed the first place team by eight points.
The top six all provided tough competition, even with a nearly flawless routine from the Knightettes. “After our final performance, it was our best yet, so we talked right after and none of us really cared if we didn’t get first because we had such a good performance. Our coaches told us no one could take away that feeling, so I wasn’t too nervous, we were just happy to have the performance that we did,” said captain Amanda Gales.
Winning by a single point, the Knightettes were awarded first in jazz in the AA level. Second place went to the E-gals and third place to St. Cloud Cathedral, who swept the state competition last year.
The kick competition was on Saturday, yet the Knightettes fell short, and did not place in the top six. “I wasn’t as disappointed as I thought I would be because it had been a long weekend and there are a lot of really good kick teams, so it made sense. The only reason I was sad was because that was my last time dancing as a Knightette,” said Kubinski.
The gold medals and state trophy are merely symbols of the successful season of the Knightettes, reguardless of early season struggles against Totino-Grace. “We were second place all season, but we all bonded and became more like a family because of it,” said Kubinski.
