Two time NVL title holders and four-time state runner ups, The Woodland Regional Dance Team is ready to start the competition season and take home more wins.

During the competition season, the team competes in two different categories, Jazz and Hip Hop. Each of these dances take a lot of time and dedication to perfect. It all starts with two sets of choreography weekends.

Choreography weekend consists of two days that last roughly six hours. This year the first weekend was focused on the jazz dance. The first day was primarily focused on going through choreography. The team had Woodland Dance Team Alumni and former coach Kristen Cullen choreograph the dance alongside the current coach Jenn Cataldi, giving input and working through the details. The second day was more focused on seeing what worked and what didn’t, making changes, and finishing the last few counts that had not been gotten to the day prior.

“The second day is always the hardest,” said dance team sophomore Anna Duffany. “You have to do just as much or even more as the first day just with a sore body.”

Choreography Weekend is very challenging as the girls put their bodies through a lot of physical labor. During the weekend the girls try a lot of things. Some girls are more trick dominated so they spend a lot of time throwing new tricks, while other girls may be turn dominant and spend a lot of time drilling their turns, which can be tiring.

When the girls feel like giving up, they stay motivated by trying to have fun and think of their team goal: to win NVL’s again. Every year that is the number one thing the girls work for and the past two competition seasons they have reached their goal.

“It’s definitely fun to learn new choreography and challenge yourself,” said four year member and current captain Kaylin Giuliani.

The team consists of 14 girls, but only nine compete in the dance. The competition team isn’t chosen yet so there are two groups established that take turns dancing in the formation during the weekend. Although not all girls are in the formation the whole time, they are still dancing off to the side. The girls will go through another round of auditions when it gets closer to the competition season.

The teams first competition is January 21st and the girls are now one step closer to perfecting their routine and having a great season.