State Champions 13 times, runner-up three times and all since 1998. They have recently been named State-Runner Up to extend their success streak to 17 years. This is the killer success of the high school’s dance team.
“I think if you would ask any dancer if we should have won state their answer would be yes,” sophomore dancer Sydney Bratton said. “We made a lot of good improvements and have come really far as a team. We tried our hardest and if that meant being runner-up then that just meant being runner-up.”
The dance team went to Alma for the State Championship Competition Nov. 8 just to come shy of bringing home another state title. Not winning was a matter of the number of performances.
“Bentonville had four dances and we had three,” junior dancer Taylor Wilson said. “I think their fourth dance, their kick dance, put them over the top for winning state. We do not need kick dancing, for I honestly think that’s not even dancing.”
Despite being runner-up, the dancers believe that this season was and can still be a great season as they prepare for nationals on Feb 2.
“We were kicking butt this season,” senior dancer Jayme Rash said. “We did a lot better than last year. Our work ethic and talent was amazing. Last year we placed 14th out of 70 teams and I believe we can do even better this year.”
The team knows that it can win a national title regardless of being second in state. They are stepping things up a notch to make sure they are doing everything they can to bring home a national dance title.
“Our hard work, determination and not giving up no matter what the outcome has been competing is what we will keep in front of us,” Bratton said. “We will try to make the tricks better and work on techniques as best as we can. We are just trying to keep a positive outlook as we go into nationals.”
The expectations for the dancers are high as they prepare for the nationals, but they are not letting the hype distract them from achieving their goal.
“We are taking pom and hip-hop to nationals this year,” Wilson said. “Everyone is saying if we push a little harder, we can have the national title. I just know we will take care of business.”
