Woodland’s dance team not only performs at football games but also competes in various competitions. While dance team competitions and in-studio competitions would appear to be very similar, they are not.

In an interview with Coach Jen Cataldi, the coach of the dance team, she shares what makes the dance team competitions different from in-studio competitions. Dance team competitions are scheduled from January to March, while performing three styles of dance that include jazz, hip-hop, and pom. Woodlands dance team usually competes in six different competitions, possibly more depending on how high they place. 

There is a limited number of people who are on the competitive dance team. This requires the girls who are already on the dance team to earn their spots in the competitions. Coach Jen makes the final decision of who is dancing at the competitions. Coach Jen strives to help the girls who do not make the competition team feel special.

“It is important to support the people who are in it, learn from them, or watch them. If someone gets hurt or sick you are needed to step in,” Coach Jen said. 

Team competitions are more about teamwork; there is a lot that goes on within them. There is a lot of energy in the room, the girls in the routines are yelling, hyping themselves up, and the crowd is also screaming during the competitions.

Although there are many differences in in-studio competition and dance team competition  there are also some similarities. The scoring for teams and studios is actually quite similar: team competitions announce the top three highest scores at the end of a competition, whereas in-studio gives out participation ribbons and announces the top ten highest scores of the day. In studio, competitions are from February until summer. Studio competes longer than teams because dance teams are within the school. 

The amount of dancers that compete in studio competition varies because of the categories, which include solo, duet, trio, small group, and large group. The energy during the competitions are very different from team competitions, since studio competitions do not promote talking during performances. In team competitions are based on grade level, whereas in studio competitions are based on age range and category. 

Dance team competitions and in-studio competitions are very different but they do have some small similarities. This just gives another insight into what our Woodland Regional High School competition team is like during their competition season.