Perennially one of the top teams in North Dakota, the West Fargo Packatahnas did something familiar at this year’s state competition.
The Packatahnas nabbed state titles in Class A Large Varsity pom and high kick, and were the runners-up in jazz.
“The girls have worked so hard for this, so it feels really good,” Packatahnas head coach Shayla Pennick said. “I mean, we work all year. We started in May of last year. Working for that long for this moment is kind of crazy for two weeks.”
It was another familiar story at the Alerus Center for the Fargo Davies Eagle Elite dance team, which carried out what it has done the past two years, clinching the Class A Large Varsity jazz state title.
The Fargo Davies Eagle Elite dance team clinched the Class A Large Varsity jazz state title for the third year in a row, placed second in pom and hip hop, and tallied a third-place finish in high kick at the North Dakota State Dance Competition on Jan. 24-25 in Grand Forks. Special to The Forum
“It’s a category that we really care about because we had won it the past two years,” Eagle Elite head coach Sarae Kellen said. “So to do it three times in a row is not easy, especially with all the talent that we have in our state.”
The Eagles also tallied a runners-up finish in pom and hip hop, and a third-place finish in high kick.
“We have so much talent in our state and winning any category is no easy task,” Kellen said. “We had no expectations, but we just knew we wanted to do our very best, and hopefully it would be enough to get what we wanted. It ended up being exactly that.”
Fargo Public Schools dance teams made history at the competition, as all three squads were finalists in the jazz category for the first time in district history.
Fargo South’s dance team grabbed the state title in jazz in the Class A Small Varsity division, and also earned second-place finishes in pom and high kick. Fargo North placed third in pom and fourth in jazz in the same division.
In Class A hip hop, West Fargo Sheyenne placed fifth.
The Fargo Public Schools dance teams made history at the North Dakota State Dance Competition on Jan. 24-25 in Grand Forks, as all three teams were finalists in the jazz category for the first time in district history. Special to The Forum
Sitting in a crowded space waiting for her team’s name to be called during awards is Pennick’s least favorite part of every competition.
“It's very suspenseful. You work so hard for such a little time, you have two minutes to go out there and complete your goal,” Pennick said. “Their goal was to be a state champion, and then of course, they want to be a national champion as well.”
The Universal Dance Association’s National Dance Team Competition, which this year runs from Jan. 31-Feb. 2 in Orlando, caps competition season.
Kellen said in that moment when she’s waiting to hear her team’s name, everything slows down.
“When they finally do it, you can’t even put it into words,” Kellen said. “It's just so thrilling to hear that all your work has paid off for what our end goal was.”
Jade Suder, a senior and two-year captain for the Packatahnas, closed her high school state dance chapter on a high note.
“Winning two state titles is very big,” Suder said. “It happened last year, but it’s never been given, and there have been a few years where it hasn’t been so easy.”
The Packatahnas swept every event at state her freshman year. But the following season, the team didn’t earn one top spot.
Jade Suder, a senior and two-year captain for the West Fargo Packatahnas, closes her high school state dance chapter on a high note at the North Dakota State Dance Competition on Jan. 24-25 in Grand Forks. Special to The Forum
The Packatahnas’ state-title winning, Spanish-themed pom routine is fast-paced and fun, Pennick said. The team’s kick routine, the event the squad has been vying for nationally, is very different. The Packatahnas placed second in kick at UDA nationals last year by 0.6 points.
Pennick’s team changed up their theme for kick this year, pivoting from the group’s usual intense, fierce type of routine to something glamorous that paints a picture for the audience.
Davies’ three-time state championship winning jazz routine is emotional, Kellen said, focused around a story the team believes in a lot — giving your all and not necessarily needing anything in return for it. Eagle Elite’s routines are choreographed by themselves — the team and three coaches.
“That's something that we really try to instill in our dancers is that we want you to put in 100%, and just do it because we love to do it and not because we need to get something out of it,” Kellen said.
“We always just hope to finish our season with our best performances,” Kellen said. “So that's our goal kind of moving into nationals, is to hopefully put the best performances of our year on the nationals floor.”
Kindred’s dance team won two state titles in the Class B Varsity pom and jazz categories. Carrington earned the top spot in high kick, and Barnes County North placed first in hip hop to round out the division.
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January 28, 2020 at 03:00AM
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Packatahnas, Eagle Elite find success at state dance - INFORUM
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