At the beginning of this school year, students at Wiregrass formed the school’s first ever dance team. The dance team is currently a club and not yet a sport, but it helps promote school spirit with dance.

Tryouts were held in September and the team has been practicing ever since then. Practices are held every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday from 2:30 to 3:30. At these practices, the dance team prepares for their upcoming performances.

“This is where we cover technique, flexibility, choreography and blocking formations. We work on kickline, turns, leaps, jumps and tricks. I have also shown the team videos of some of the best dance drill teams in the country. This way the team can see where our vision is headed, and they have a goal to work towards,” Coach Christal Shurley explains.

Christal Shurley, owner of CMS Dance Company, is the coach for the team. She has been coaching dance for over 24 years now and has worked with the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders, Houston Texas Cheerleaders, the Miss Texas Pageant, and several high school and college dance teams.

So far this year, the dance team has performed at both pep rallies and half-time during basketball games. They first performed at the homecoming pep rally in October and have recently performed at two basketball games. The dance team still has a couple more performances to come before their first competition in April.

Since this is the dance team’s inaugural year, Julia Leck, junior and captain, explains her goals for the team for this year.

“My goal is to help the girls who don’t have the prior dance experience and so far, from practices and

performances, I have seen a huge difference, which makes me happy to see,” Leck said.

Even though only having performed three times, junior lieutenant Savannah Horseman explains her feelings about the team.

“For our first dance team, I think we have done really well. By joining the dance team, I’ve become close with everyone and now we are one big family,” Horseman said.

The team will host auditions again at the end of the 2017-2018 school year for new members. They currently have 13 members, and hope their numbers will grow as the program expands.

“I am so proud of the team. They have grown so much and I can’t wait to see what the team will look like by the end of the year,” club sponsor Mrs. Swain said.