Courtesy of tigerettes_
On Saturday, February 17, the Hastings Tigerettes are going to state dance.
“I’m excited and they get excited too about going there and being in the environment again,” Head Coach Megan Stoner said.
Since Hastings Senior High is a Class B school, the Tigerettes will perform against all the other Class B schools. This will be the ninth year they are going to state. The girls on the team will also get to see all the other divisions compete as well.
“You’re constantly watching the big schools like Lincoln and Omaha and you get to see all the good techniques and you really get to learn from that,” senior Shayli Shoemaker said.
State dance is a multi-day event going from Thursday to Saturday because there are dance and cheer teams from Class A, B, C1, C2, and D schools. This year, they are having Academic Excellence Awards where Stoner will nominate people on the team based on their GPA and grades.
“They will be recognized at the state tournament as a team for their academic excellence,” Stoner said.
The dance team will get new costumes for state. The girls will also get new shoes for their routine. The team is also designing and finalizing a part of their shirts themselves for the routine.
”I’m most excited for the experience and the adrenaline rush,” sophomore Hayden Steppuhn said.
This year, the Tigerettes will be performing a hip-hop dance at state. The girls have been practicing their dance since the beginning of October. The Tigerettes try to practice their dance at least once a practice, and they have two to three practices a week. This year, the girls had a professional choreographer from Kansas City choreograph the dance. The choreographer was mostly funded by the HHS booster club.
“Working with a choreographer was an amazing experience,” Stoner said.
At state, they have a very strict schedule. For example, you have to be at the stretch mats on time and be in the picture room and practice room at a certain time.
“This is my last year and I am going to really miss it,” Shoemaker said.
