ABOVE: Members of the 2024-25 Fairmont Dance Team. Front row from left: Emily Wheeler, Cadence Leiding, Billy Anderson, Alyvia Anderson, Kaymarie Desjarlais. Middle row, from left: Jovie Rogge, Jazzy Lopez, Jagger Dewald, Justiss Hansen, Aubrey Walker. Back row, from left: Allie Streit, Maddie Johnson, Bel Lutterman, Georgie Werre, Braelyn Miller, Sierra Lewis.

FAIRMONT– Fairmont High School’s Dance Team is in the midst of its ninth season with three competitions under its belt following the Big South Conference Invitational on Thursday evening, which it hosted at Fairmont High School.

Practice began in early November and the season runs through the second week of February, when sections take place.

Courtney Steuber is the head coach and Lisa Carlson is the assistant coach, along with Rebecca Hagert and Madison Hennager.

While this is the first year Hennager has coached, she’s no stranger to it as she was on the inaugural team her senior year in 2017.

“It is definitely more competitive. It’s a much different world of dance then when we entered in our first year. I think coming in as a smaller school we didn’t necessarily know what we were getting into right away but it’s so nice to see how technical the dancers are and their form. It’s changed so much over the years,” Hennager said.

The team is made up of 15 students grades 7 through 12 with five seniors. They are Cadence Leiding, Olivia Anderson, Emily Wheeler, Kaymarie Desjarlais and manager Billy Anderson.

“We have a very small number of returners that are upperclassmen. We have some underclassmen and it’s been nice for them to be able to step up,” Hennager said.

So far this season the team has been at competitions in Glencoe on Dec. 5 and Stewartville on Dec. 21. Along with those, it’s also performed at a home double header game. It will also perform on Jan. 17 during a double header game and again on the 31st with younger students who participated in a dance clinic.

As for how scoring is done, Hennager said there are different categories including difficulty and technique.

“You have to have so many different transitions and formations on the floor as well as different levels going on,” Hennager explained.

Things like entertainment level an emotions conveyed are also factors the judges consider when scoring.

The team has three routines that it brings to competitions including a High Kick, Variety Jazz and JV Jazz. Hennager said the High Kick routine is very theatrical and done to a Dancing Queen/Mama Mia ABBA mix.

The team also learned an additional routine that it performed this past Halloween with the Woodland Avenue Witches. Members of the team also learned a special Christmas routine that was performed at halftime of a home basketball game and finally a special routine for the dance clinic.

The first few years of the program Hennager said individual dancers were buying and keeping their costumes but now that the team is more established and receiving more funding, they have a storage room at the school where they can keep costumes and reuse some over the years.

While the team did not place at its first two competitions, Hennager said it’s been nice to get results back and improve from them.

“I think, from my standpoint, watching the varsity jazz routine getting their results back and then Courtney making changes, it’s a world of difference and their scores have increased. The growth is there,” she said.

After Thursday’s home competition, the team has three more left this season.