Mullen Dance Performs At League

To begin with, this group of young ladies may very well be the youngest competitive dance team Mullen has ever traipsed onto a floor where every synchronized step, body movement, and facial feature is judged and given a score.  Of the eleven girls that comprise the team, not one will graduate from high school before 2026.  These young ladies have been working tirelessly for months to learn intricate movements and enhanced skills while simultaneously trying to figure out how to lead themselves and the other members of the team without the luxury of older and more experienced team members to show them the way.  Though that can be deemed a handicap, it can sometimes be a blessing for an uber-young team.  They don’t know what they don’t know, and as a result, they just go – until they can’t.

 

That is exactly what happened to these young ladies three-weeks prior, plus a day or two, when their head coach resigned her coaching position.  With no semblance of a teacher to lean on for guidance, be present for moral support, or to fine-tune their efforts, these Mustangs could not press forward in a way a team needs to that is on the precipice of a major competition.  They tried, nonetheless.  The growing angst was short-lived when within days of their coach’s departure, a new coach was found and put into place.  Welcome Coach Lauren Sparks (’13), and from a coach’s perspective who knows intimately the level of competition that faced this team, three weeks was a tall order.  It would take her that long just to get to know the girls.  Yet, everyone hit the ground running with renewed purpose.

 

That brings us back to Tuesday the 7th.  6:34 PM.  The first team on the floor to start the night’s performances, and for about half the team, the very first high school competition of their young lives.  They didn’t know what they don’t know, and they just went.  As they took the floor, their grace and elegance were on full display.  In beautiful navy-blue flowing gowns, they floated into position, took seats on the floor staking claim to the center of the foreign space.  Music cued, a hush fell over the house, and softly, Billy Joel’s Vienna filled the air putting into motion the jazz routine these Mustangs had been laboring to perfect for months.  From their sitting positions, moved by an imaginary wind, the three dancers on the left of the formation arced their arms overhead from left to right imitated immediately by the four dancers in the middle and concluded with the same by the three dancers sitting to the right.  The line of dancers then moved in unison to high-planking positions, heads to the other’s toes, to form one long line.  Down they went then up and up even more until they were all standing and spreading the floor.  They glided, they twirled, they kicked. They even lifted others for momentary flight, and they looked so graceful in their movements.  As the lyrics neared the end, the team gathered again as they did at the onset and came to a rest with a parting wave of the arm overhead, and Billy had nothing more to add.  All became still. 

 

 Though their concern that night was their score and placement, those things were outdistanced by their grit, perseverance, and showmanship.  They competed hard, but more importantly, they learned how to compete and what it takes to compete for this league and ultimately for State.  They remained a team when things were bleak. Just to watch them in the hallways as they make their way to workouts, it is apparent that they like one another.  Through it all, these young ladies have learned and grown and will take these life lessons forward as they mature into a hardline competitive dance team.  Mark my words.

 

Next up for these young ladies is the CHSAA 4A State Spirit Championships. They are scheduled to perform at the Denver Coliseum on Saturday, December 9^th at 1:03 PM.  Go Mustangs!