On March 2, while most students sat in class day dreaming about sun, surf and beach, seven Glitter Girls were sitting on a plane headed for Orlando, Fla., ready to dance their way to the top.
The National Dance Alliance (NDA) competition took place on March 3-4, but the team left on March 2 and returned on March 5. As a national competition, 22 states were represented, as well as two teams from Japan. The Glitter Girls submitted a video of a routine last fall and received word of their acceptance in November.

“I jumped up and down when I heard the news,” dance team coach Erin Fine said. “It was after school but I knew that [senior] Katie McClave was still in the building for play rehearsals so I ran to tell her. We were both jumping up and down.”

The dance team competed in three categories: pom, jazz and hip-hop in the small division (teams of 12 or less). With seven out of the eight girls preforming against an average of 13 other dance teams per category, the girls were hard at work practicing up until the day of the competition.

The girls practiced during the dance team class first hour and after school the day before they left. Along with the practices, the girls also attended two local competitions to help prepare for nationals.

Despite the hours of practice, the trip was not all work. The girls spent much of their time meeting other teams and building friendships.

Although large trips are a huge highlight of the dance team’s season, the NDA competition will not be an annual occurrence.

“This is another big event for the girls to look forward to,” Fine said, “But it costs a lot of money so we’ll be attending NDA every other year from now on.”

The Glitter Girls placed 11th in hip-hop, 12th in pom and 13th in jazz. The team was also .045 away from competing in finals with their jazz routine, which is the largest category.

Despite their success, the Glitter Girls returned to their routine of practice makes perfect once they returned to Kansas.

“This doesn’t really change much about our team,” Fine said, “I still have the same expectations.”