“My main goal for this season, and every season, was to help my dancers learn and grow, not only as athletes but as young women,” said NDA Dance Team Coach Miranda Roehl. 

NDA’s Dance Team competed at state this past weekend and ended the season accomplishing many goals, while walking away proud of their performances, and progress, throughout the season. 

“Overall, the feeling of all the dancers as we walked off the floor was, no matter how we place, we need to be proud because that was so good!” said sophomore team member Lidiya Schneider. 

The team placed 8th in Division 4 Pom and 10th in Division 2 Jazz, and in reflecting on their performances, they feel that it was the best they ever performed. 

“When we walked off the floor, we could all feel it,” said Schenider. “There’s just this vibe in the room, like, wow that was really good. Our state performance had the least amount of personal mistakes out of our entire season, and the things we get judged on were really present in our routines.”

Wisconsin dance is known for being highly competitive, especially in the Green Bay area. The team is already looking forward to taking on the state stage next February. 

“I look at it as that we are in competition with ourselves, we know what and how we did this season, so next season, we will work hard to continue to build on that and exceed it,” said Coach Roehl. 

In order to qualify for state, teams must attend a WACPC Regional Competition and place in the top half of the teams that compete in their division and category. Wisconsin is broken up into the Northern and Southern regions, and then further broken up by division. Teams are allowed to bring a maximum of two routines to Regionals. 

Having one dance qualify is a significant achievement, let alone two. The preparation that goes on behind the scenes and at practice is many times unnoticed, but very much there. 

The girls learn their dances as early as June and practice for two and a half hours 4 to 5 days per week. This time commitment doesn’t include gymnastics, strength/conditioning, or the outside technique that the team does. Over nine months of practice go into a two-minute performance. 

“Our sport is unique in the sense that we don’t have a second half to go out and win the game, we can’t get the rebound. Whatever happens in that two minutes at Regionals decides if we qualify for State,” said the coach. 

This season, the dance team set many goals, and Coach Roehl held high expectations for each and every one of the girls. From advanced skills to some of the hardest choreography NDA has seen in years, the girls were constantly pushing themselves and their limits. 

“I don’t judge our success of a season based on how many trophies we bring home, but by the growth of my athletes on and off the dance floor, and they surpassed everything I could have ever expected of them this season,” said Roehl. 

Dance training and skills weren’t the only goals that set this year either, though – the girls put into practice how to become better leaders inside of school and in the community. Coach Roehl says that the girls “trained their minds just as much as they trained their bodies.” She emphasizes how the girls grow not only as dancers but as people too. 

The team’s motto for next season is “This is Our Moment,” meaning that no matter what event, competition, game, or practice they are at, they will be completely present and thankful for the opportunity to do what they love and share that love with those around them. They will focus on all of the small successes that they achieve. 

When talking about this first-year coach, dedication is an understatement. She has already begun choreographing all three of the competition dances for the next season, one that will be a whole new style of dance for the girls to tackle. 

Dance has always been a part of her life, and she has coached for teams on the varsity, collegiate and middle school levels over the past nine years. She’s also a choreographer represented by a management agency that allows her to travel all over the United States choreographing for all ages, levels and teams. 

“She is a very good coach and definitely pushes us to continue to strive for greatness,” said team captain Madeline Hilts. “She is trying to start a future team, and she has put in a lot of work with planning and benchmarking goals for herself and the team.”

Coach Roehl has great expectations for the future of the NDA dance program. She hopes to grow the program into a varsity team that is consistently taking top spots in the State Championship, and tryouts will be held starting at the beginning of March. 

They will continue to hold fall and winter kids’ clinics to foster a passion for dance in the younger generations. They also plan on expanding this education for younger ages in the years to come. 

“The hope is to become a legacy program and someday have a graduating class that has been with our program since kindergarten,” said the coach.