New season for local dancers
As the Canby/Minneota dance team begins another season, Coach Jordyn Stutelberg is encouraged and excited about what the future season might bring. Dance had their first practice back on Oct. 21 and have been working hard since then in preparation for the upcoming season. Last year, the team placed third in the Camden Conference and took sixth in their 3A section. “In our conference, LqPV/DB and YME look to be tough competition,” said Stutelberg.
“They placed first and second at state for the 2018-2019 season.
They also look to do well in our section along with BOLD and Montevideo.
Though we fully believe Canby/Minneota can take one of those top spots this season!”
Stutelberg is looking to her experienced dancers to raise the team’s standing this year. Stephanie Birk, Merissa Traen, Natalie Bot, Johanna Heinrich, Cassidy Skogen, Isabelle Kimpe, Jada Sterzinger, Lauren Olson, Krystal Eischens, Norah Fadness, Kaitlyn Ludwikowski, Gabby Verhelst and Natalie Bach are all returning letterwinners, and their experience will be crucial to the team’s success this season. Birk and Traen will be acting as the team’s captains.
Helping Stutelberg, the team’s assistant coaches are Taylor Campbell and Maddy Sagedahl. When talking about her team’s strengths, Stutelberg said, “Our main strength this season is fun and difficult routines. The girls are loving the uniforms, music, and choreography. It truly makes a difference that all of the team members enjoy performing their routines.”
“We put a lot of time into technique and bonding this summer and it has paid off. The girls came the day of practice ready to go.” “We also have some amazing leaders on the team to push the girls in a positive direction. It’s a fun group of girls that know how to work hard.” Just as the team has its strengths, they also have weaknesses. Stutelberg said this in regards to what they need to improve on this year, “One area of dance that we consistently need to work on is stamina. Our routines are difficult and demand a lot out of the dancers.”
“To preform routines you need to have endurance. It can be difficult to get to that point and then maintain it, though, with some TLC and extra work, we can definitely get there.”
For objectives this year, improvement is what Stutelberg is looking for the most. “Our main goal is to keep making progress,” she said. “At the beginning of the season, the team created six areas of growth (ex. kick height, upper body strength, etc.). We want to become stronger and more flexible dancers.”
“Each practice, we make progress on parts of our dance, and now, as we begin to compete, we can work on making goals for our scores from the judges.”
“These are a very talented group of dancers, so it will be very exciting to see the progress they make from now until the end of the season.” Canby/Minneota performed at Canby High School Dec. 3 and had their first competition of the season at Renville County West Friday night.
Photo: Varsity: The Canby/Minneota Sensations varsity kick team includes: (Front row, left to right): Seniors Elle Pieper, Merissa Traen, Stephanie Birk and Natalie Bot. Second row: Jada Sterzinger, Isabelle Kimpe, Cassidy Skogen, Johanna Heinrich and Abby Theisen. Third row: Lauren Olson, Norah Fadness, Isabel Thompson, Gabby Verhelst, and Krystal Eischens. Back row: Brooklyn Kindopp, Emma Vernlund, Paige Viessman, Kaitlyn Ludwikowski, Natalie Bach, and Madison Scholten.
Photo: The JV Kick Team are: (front row, left to right): Samara Sumerfelt, Kylie Sterzinger, Sydney Hemish, Maya Frank, Tahlia Theisen, Katie Munter, Hannah Fadness and Lilli Opdahl. Back: Trinity Kirschbaum, Sadie Skogen, Ryanna Waldner, Elizabeth DeCock, Jewelz Vierstraete, Hannah Hiedeman, Bianca Elsing and Storm Johnson.