For several years now, our high school dance team has been coached by Leslie Manning. This season, however, the dancers have gotten a new coach, Sheila Klover. Mrs. Klover chose to become the new dance coach because of her large musical background. She also really loved being able to coach and dance in the past. When the opportunity came about, Mrs. Klover was very excited to get the chance to do both.
Mrs. Klover danced in all four of her high school years. At her high school, the dance team had two squads. A large squad of 32 dancers, and a more advanced group of eight. This group of eight were able to create their own choreography as well! Mrs. Klover was on both of these squads throughout her time in high school. As an adult in Oklahoma, where she used to live, she was an assistant cheer coach for two years. This is where she gained coaching experience!
Currently, Mrs. Klover has big plans for the dancers this year. The dancers have already been going to UDA (Universal Dance Association) Camp. She has been trying to find new camps to attend, in addition to UDA, so the dancers can have more opportunities to learn new things from new people. Overall, just being able to try and learn new things is a huge goal of Mrs. Klover’s for the dancers. As of right now, there are seven people on the team, but Mrs. Klover is trying to get at least 12-14 people to join. In terms of joining the dance team, there aren’t any real requirements. Prior dance experience is recommended, but not a must. For people who are interested in being on the dance team, you should be excited to hear that Mrs. Klover is open to accepting people throughout the season. If you are even a little interested in the dances, Mrs. Klover mentioned that you’re more than welcome to come and watch a practice and meet the current dancers. She is willing to have people audition whenever. So once again, if anyone is interested, all you have to do is shoot Mrs. Klover an email and there are plenty of things that she is willing to do to get people involved!
When it comes to what material the dancers learn, personally, I was shocked to find out that they learn between eight and ten dances throughout the season! Many of which the dancers already have prepared. Mrs. Klover is doing new things to try and gain interest in the dance team. She is working on changing up current routines and getting different music, as well as getting costumes instead of the regular uniforms the dancers wear. How exciting!
The dancers have been working super hard to choreograph routines and practice performing them for the basketball games. It can be hard to adjust to the new ways of coaching, but Mrs. Klover is very excited to be able to teach our dancers new things, and she welcomes new dancers all the time. New dancers are still needed and we encourage anyone interested to come and learn more! Even if you cannot, come to the games, and remember to cheer loud for our Southeast of Saline dance team!
