Courtesy of Stella Blackwood and Benilde-St.Margaret’s

The BSM Dance and Cheer Teams cheer on the football team every Friday night.

The Knightettes, Benilde-St. Margaret’s highly esteemed and successful dance team, recently started performing sideline cheers at football games. In the past, the cheer team cheered in front of the student section the whole game, and the dance team performed only at halftime. However, now the dance team is in front of the parents’ section first half and the student section second half.

As a transfer student from Orono, sophomore Kailey Kanive has experience from different varsity dance teams. Kanive comments that people usually stay the whole football game at Orono, a stark contrast to the entire student section departing after the first half of the BSM football games. Thus, the dance team cheering the whole game has been aimed at increasing attendance throughout the whole game at BSM. “I think it’s fun to watch and keeps the spirit up,” Kanive said.

Throughout the fall season, multiple changes have been made to where the dance team should cheer. Beginning with only at the fences near the concessions/parent section, to the second half in front of the student section, and now for senior night, first half in front of the student section. But one thing that hasn’t changed is the routines; captains either yell B, S, or M to indicate which cheer to do. One of the captains, junior Daniela Johannson, believes that sideline dancing increases school spirit and team spirit, and keeps crowds at the football games for longer, because students can see the dance team the whole game, whether at the fence or in front of the stands. “I think it [sideline dancing] has increased school spirit. And we feel more spirited as a team, instead of just lying down, dancing [at halftime] and [then] leaving,” Johannson said.

Although dance team adaptations have been made and spirit has increased, there are still difficulties they have yet to overcome. If done for the same amount of time, dancing burns more calories and takes more energy than cycling, running, and swimming. Meaning that to be standing an entire football game, and performing an intense halftime show, Friday night football games can be draining for the dancers’ bodies. “Sometimes people can get really tired because we are standing for so long, and we can only dance when there’s music going on or when we get a first down, so we stand there a lot and a lot of times, our legs hurt. We’re tired from the school day, but it’s definitely been a lot more fun than sitting on the blankets,” Johannson said.

The BSM Cheer Team is relatively newly established, and they have been cheering at football games since their inception. As this is the first year the dance team has participated not just during halftime, compromises have been made between the teams, such as switching off between halves in front of the student section. According to Johannson, sideline dancing has brought positivity between the two teams, and the cheer team has been nothing less than welcoming. “After the first football game, a couple of girls got texts from some of the cheerleaders [saying], ‘Good job, I know the pom poms are a new thing, [but] you guys did amazing.’ I think they’re super supportive about it,” Johannson said.

The changes to sideline dancing have been well-received by the cheerleaders, and they are excited for BSM’s school spirit to grow, even though there have been difficulties. According to senior cheerleader Grace Soderling, most schools around the metro area have a dance team and cheer team during sidelines; however, most of them have tracks around their field, allowing for more space. Due to the limited number of opportunities at BSM to cheer and the already prominent dance team, the cheer team will continue to persevere and popularize their team and its capabilities. “The only issue I have with it is we just have no space to begin with…It is still a little frustrating, because the dance [team] is so well established. I feel we’re just fighting for a place on the sidelines, and we were before even the dancing wasn’t there. I feel like the school doesn’t really take us that seriously or respect us, but we’re still in the process of developing a team,” Soderling said.

The dance and cheer teams’ combined efforts to increase the school spirit and attendance at football games has taken time and effort into developing different routines and pushing their bodies. Make sure to show up in red and gold to cheer on the football team, dance team, and cheer team’s seniors for Senior Night this Friday, October 10th.