On Sunday, Feb. 15, Simpson College’s dance and cheer teams headed to Central College in Pella, Iowa to compete at the American Rivers Conference Cheer and Dance Championships.
Simpson was represented in both A-R-C All Conference Cheer and Dance Teams. First-year Biahna Weigandt made the A-R-C All Conference Cheer Second Team. Sophomore Sarah Ashing made the A-R-C All-Conference Dance Second Team. Long made the A-R-C All-Conference Dance First Team.
The All Conference Team is a group of dancers from each school who have been selected after competing in a tryout process. This tryout consists of a solo performance which determines the dancer’s skills. This occurred on the same day as the group competitions.
Junior dancer Lauren Long explained what the dance team had to do to prepare.
“We have had to squeeze in some early morning practices to be able to get comfortable competing on a gym floor, as we normally practice in the dance room in the gym,” Long said.
The competition at Central took place on a gymnasium floor, which differs from most competitions the dance team participates in. Typically, dancers compete on stage-like floors designed specifically for their performance styles.
There are six divisions for teams to compete in. For dance teams, they can compete in any or all categories: hip-hop, jazz or pom. For cheerleading teams, they can compete in any or all categories: 5-person stunt, game day and 2.5 Minute. Only six of the nine schools in the A-R-C conference competed against each other.
The cheer champion is decided by the score of the 2.5-minute routine the teams perform,which was claimed this year by the University of Dubuque.. The dance competition is decided by an average score of the pom and jazz routines, which was claimed this year by the Central College Dutch.
Sophomore cheerleader Charli Burton said she felt the team persevered after facing some setbacks this season.
“I feel like this was definitely the best routine that I’ve been in, in the two years… we lost a lot of people over Christmas break, we started with 16 and now we are down to 6,” Burton said.
With the cheer team shrinking in size, they had to change from competing in their original 2.5-minute routine category to the gameday category. The gameday category focused on the team’s ability to lead a crowd rather than a choreographed stunt routine.
“We rallied and worked together to figure this out, because we all wanted to represent our team in the best way possible,” Burton said.
The A-R-C Cheer and Dance Championships rotate on a yearly schedule for who hosts the competition. Simpson last hosted the competition in February of 2023.
The conference championships would normally be the dance team’s last competition of the season, but they will attend the Dance Team Union National Championships in Orlando, Florida. The dance team will also be performing at a future basketball game, performing a co-ed dance with partners each dancer chooses.
This is the Simpson College cheer team’s only competition this year, but they will spend more time on the sidelines of Simpson’s home games. The last basketball game they will be cheering at will be on Wednesday, Feb. 18.
