After A Winning Competition Season, Dance Team Looks Ahead

On Tuesday afternoon, the gym at echoed with the melodies of four different pop tunes as the 13 members of the dance team, divided into groups by grade, rehearsed routines they choreographed themselves in preparation for a performance in front of the whole school next Wednesday.

The dance show is an end-of-competition-season tradition for the team, said coach Michelle Clerico, a treat of an event that lets them pick the skills they want to show off. 

And this year, they earned it.

The team placed fourth in the state in their division in both the jazz and hip-hop categories at the New Jersey Cheerleading and Dance Coaches Association Championships Feb. 20, a “major victory” for the relatively young team, Clerico said.

Clerico started the team from scratch when she came to the district in 2006 as a health, physical education and driving teacher. A longtime dancer herself, she had helped coach the team at Wayne Hills High School in Passaic County, where she had previously taught. 

When she started forming a Barnegat team, she found girls with a big range of experience, but lots of enthusiasm, and that's still the case today.

“It’s very diverse,” Clerico said. “There are some that go to dance school; there are some that don’t. There are some that have been dancing since they were 3; there are some that have never danced before coming here.”

That can make creating a cohesive routine tough, she said, because the goal of a dance team is total synchronicity ­– not that her team doesn’t rise to the occasion.

“It’s a challenge, but the girls understand that,” said Clerico. “They dance as one. They know when they’re out there on that court they have to look exactly the same.”

To get there, they work hard, holding one three-hour practice and several more shorter sessions each week for much of the school year, and devoting a chunk of their summers to dance camp. That’s where Universal Dance Association officials pick the teams that will compete at nationals each year, a major event held in Orlando.

Last summer, the team was given that chance, but Clerico said they made the difficult decision as a group to sit it out. Two girls instrumental to the team had to transfer to another district, she said, and in addition, “they’re still new to the game. They wanted to really put the energy into getting a little better.”

This year they’ll put their all into getting another national bid, said Clerico, and hopefully make the trip.

In the meantime, team members said they’re having fun preparing for the annual dance show, both because it lets them showcase their favorite moves and because they’ll be performing at home.

"We get to show off for our own school," said senior Samantha Oden. Because Barnegat's team is one of the only competitive high school dance teams in the area, "our competitions are usually far away."

“It’s a way for us to do the routine on our own, and get creative,” said freshman Kelly Connors, 14. 

The spirit and hard work the girls put into the non-competition performance is just the kind of attitude Clerico said she is proud of in her team.

“As a coach, you want them to get the blue ribbons and the trophies,” she said. “But it’s the little things” – like “110 percent” award the team was given at dance camp last year – “that really reflect your team. That’s more important to me sometimes.”

See the show

The dance team and other acts by individuals and groups from the high school will join the dance team onstage in the high school auditorium for their annual show at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 9. Tickets are $5.