BSM Dance Team tries to keep a high level of performance even with key injuries
Many dancers are sick or injured, but the team has adapted to still have a high level of success.
The team has many girls unable to perform due to injury.
As the weather gets colder and colder, many students have started to get sick. The Benilde-St. Margaret’s Dance Team has five unrelated cases of sickness and injuries. Coincidental? Yes. Convenient? Certainly not. Nevertheless, the dance team has won three competitions, including the last meet in Eastview—winning 1st in both kick and Jazz—and has continued to have success.
Girls on the team believe the injuries are caused by the numerous competitions and hours of practice that take place in December. Week after week, more and more injuries and sickness manifest. With over two to three hours a day of practice a day, the girls are left exhausted which makes them more prone to injury or sickness.
This plague has left the coaches and captains frustrated due to the absences of four dancers. “We have to redo formations when people get sick, and the choreography has to be changed, and it gets to be very draining,” junior captain Molly Segner said.
Without key dancers, the team has to find ways to still perform at a high level. “We have to fill the spots for the dancers that got sick/injured which creates an extra level of stress for the captains and coaches,” senior captain Ava Smithmier said.
Sarah Hansberry, one of the fallen dancers, was out with an abscess in her lower stomach, which left her sitting on the bench during the last competitions. “It’s very hard to watch my teammates dance without me because it’s my senior year, but happy I’m sick now rather than at State,” senior captain Sarah Hansberry said.
The other injured dancers include junior Molly Segner with a sprained ankle, Lolo Landry with a pulled hamstring, senior Meghan Olk with a hip labrum, and junior Lauren Chevalier with a lower back nerve issue.
The whole team has had to bind together to adapt to these curve balls that were thrown at them. However, the team believes that these injuries and sickness have brought them closer as a team. “We have had a lot of unfortunate injuries and sickness, but it has only made us stronger and more determined as a team,” Segner said.
