Despite the Benilde-St. Margaret’s dance team season being over for over a month, two members continued their season to get ready to participate in the Miss Dance Team USA competition. In the first week of April 2014, the Segner sisters, senior Katie and seventh-grader Molly, traveled to California to do what they love.

This past winter, senior dance team captain Katie Segner won the Miss Dance Team MN competition. From that event, she was chosen amongst a few others to compete in California for Miss Dance Team USA. “The judges pick 15 girls who stand out as good performers, and those girls become Team Minnesota, so any one of them can go and compete,” Katie Segner said.

Katie’s younger sister, Molly, is a seventh grader and also a member of the BSM dance team. The coach for Dance Team MN is also their fall coach, so she knew the level of Molly’s dance skills and invited her to be on the team.

Prior to the big competition, the Segner sisters rigorously prepared with the team, with each other, and also by themselves. They practiced with their studio coach, but also with their BSM dance team winter coach. “On spring break we would work on our dances in the ballroom of our hotel because it was the week before the competition,” Katie Segner said.

The judges based the winner off of three different parts of the dancer’s performance: modeling, interview, and a solo dance. The modeling consisted of walking to five different spots on the stage and doing a different skill at each spot. The interview consisted of one question per dancer. “I had two questions because there was the [qualifiers] and the finals, so we basically had to do everything twice,” Katie Segner said. However, the age group that Molly Segner participated in didn’t have to do the modeling and interview sessions in the final round.

With a pool of 30 excellent dancers from all over the country, the competition was competitive; however, both Katie and Molly were able to take home the winning sash, crown, and very large trophy.