Following  a very successful season of dance, the Cleveland Sundancers were looking forward to the OSAA state competition held on March 18 and 19 at the Memorial Coliseum.

Prep for the competition begins in January, the beginning of their state season. The choreographing begins and piece by piece, the dance comes together. The girls perform their state piece at multiple competitions performing against some of their 6A competition before taking it to state.  

The team’s main goal for this year’s competition was to make it to the second round. With a change in the scoring process, it was harder for the teams to advance to the second round. “With such strong competition in 6A, only the top 50 percent qualifies for finals after the preliminary round,” explained Sundancer coach Ana Reiser.

6A has an abundance of Oregon’s top dance teams, and scoring well among them is an achievement on its own. Junior Hannah Proctor explained the feeling of advancing to the second round, saying, “We were hoping to make it just to be able to dance one last time as a team. When the announcer called our name, it was the best feeling.”

The Sundancers’ “Shadows” routine scored high in most all of their previous competitions, even giving them a win in their division of PIL. On the first day of the state competition, Friday, March 18, the Sundancers performed their piece against 24 other teams, and the top 13 teams advanced to the second round on Saturday. Cleveland scored a 78.50, placing as number 11 out of all 25 teams. This advanced them to the second round of competition.

On Saturday of the state competition, the Sundancers performed their dance once again, this time scoring a 76.33. They did not place in the final round, but they reached their goal of making it to the second round. Sophomore Jayne Frost commented on the experience of the state competition, stating, “State went so well, it was just such an amazing feeling to put in so much effort into one routine and [to have] it actually pay off.”

One of the team’s biggest achievements of this year’s state competition was the top three dancers in 6A drill down all belonged to Sundancers. Senior captain Emma Hausafus placed third, junior Anna Litchman placed second, and Proctor placed first. “I was very proud of myself, but even more proud of our team for getting the top three places,” said Proctor.

The season was a success for the Sundancers and they are hoping to do even better next year. The tryout process begins in May, and then the season starts back up again.