The GPHS Dance Team had a very successful week at camp this past summer. In mid-June the GPHS Dance Team along with Coach Brianna Puetz, headed to K-State Salina for a UDA camp.
At UDA camp 2024 the Garden Plain dance team received many awards. As a team they received a super spirit stick night one. Super spirit sticks are given to the team with the most pep. They received the leadership award, voted on by each team and explained as a team you would be on if you couldn’t be on your own. They also earned the award for the most drill down ribbons, 5th in their home routine, and the superior trophy for high ranking scores.
Seniors Kora Rex, Aubrey Mease, Jaden Stuhlsatz, Lyndsee Ricke and juniors Emma Bakker and Erin Smith earned All-American awards. Coach Brianna Puetz said, “This year’s choreography and technique were amazing. I also love that you get to make up two eight counts of your own choreography.”
Aubrey Mease, one of the co-captains, said “The hardest part of the All-American is having the confidence to just do it.” Smith also placed 3rd overall in the Drill Down competition.
If you don’t know much about a UDA camp, it lasts 4 days and each day entails something different. Mease stated “The whole week can be mentally draining. You don’t get many breaks, and there’s a lot of physical exertion.” Once you arrive and get settled you learn a team dance or the Performance Routine (PR). Next, you perform your Home Routine, a routine you create beforehand. Lastly, you begin learning drill downs, which are a set of military commands.
“I really like drill downs, they teach the girls how to focus, stay on track, and sharpness.” Puetz noted. When doing drill downs if you make a mistake you must sit down and wait for a new round to start, if you are one of the few still standing you get a “Yellow Golden Ribbon.” The drill downs are all added up each night and kept as a tally for each team.
The second day is the busiest. The day begins with the All-American routine. This is an optional routine that up to 8 girls per team can learn and perform. While some girls participate in that, the other girls practice their other routine. After that you learn your A and B routines. These are dances that are taught with a mix of girls from every team participating in the camp. Then the instructors teach classes called “Tech Connect.” This is where the instructors teach different kinds of technique and how to connect them into choreography. Every day there are also different team bonding and leadership activities, and a continuation of drill downs.
On the third day you continue learning All-American, A and B, and you perform the performance routines followed by the All-American Routines. To end the day the girls who made All-American are announced.
On the last day you perform your A and B routines and other awards/trophies are handed out. You also do the final drill down, every single girl is competing to be the last one standing and win drill down queen. There are also first runner up and second runner up awards given.
Overall there is a large amount of bonding that goes on during this camp. It’s a way for the new additions to the team, since it is the first event after tryouts, to really bond with each other. Mies said, “My favorite part is bonding with the team. Along with that I love advancing our skills as a team and individually by pushing ourselves the whole week.”
Puetz added that her favorite part is “Seeing the team bond, creating memories and laughing.”
You can catch the dance team’s first two performances at Gard Field during the Black and Gold Scrimmage on August 30 at 7:00 p.m. and the season opener for Owl Football on Thursday, September 5, 2024 at halftime.
