After four years of making memories with her fellow teammates, senior Ava Kumagai participated in her final fall showcase for the Antler Dance Team.
The annual showcase is the first opportunity for teams from the Midwest area to prove their skill and talent against their competitors. Although they were scoping out the competition, Kumagai says the Antlers weren’t nervous after other schools performed.
“Watching all the other teams compete was really good,” Kumagai said, “It was fun to see.”
This showcase is not only an opportunity for seeing what they are up against, but also a chance to self reflect as a team. Kumagai said she feels as though this chance was seized by the Elkhorn Dance Team.
“Obviously we had new stuff,” Kumagai said. “We found stuff we need to improve on.”
For the past eight years, Kumagai has been serious about dancing as her preferred sport. After a brief hiatus from dance to pursue a burgeoning soccer career, Kumagai returned to the sport in elementary school. Excluding the break she took to play soccer, the senior has been dancing from a young age.
“I danced a lot when I was really little, and a toddler,” Kumagai said. “I started playing soccer, but once I got bored of that I started dancing again in fourth or fifth grade.”
Through the Elkhorn Dance Team, or EDT, Kumagai said she has been through many exciting moments. She says the one that stands out the most was placing fourth at nationals last year during the season.
“It’s in Florida so we get to miss about four days of school,” Kumagai said. “It’s so crazy and every team is good…it was just so fun being on the stage when they called our name for fourth place.”
However even with all the other exciting aspects that come with being part of the team, Kumagai maintains that the people involved in this sport are her favorite thing about the entire experience. “I love my teammates,” Kumagai said, “And I love just seeing people’s reactions to watching us dance.”
