Dance Team Adapts To New Changes

Face mask regulations have forced the HUHS Dance team to adapt to keep their season as normal as possible, making the season harder than previous years, according to junior Megan Senkbeil.

“Wearing masks just makes like the ‘wow’ factor more difficult,” Senkbeil said. “With masks this year we can no longer show facial expressions when we’re dancing.”

Wearing masks allows the dance team to practice and perform in a closer proximity than six feet.

“We spread out as far as we can when getting drinks of water and that normally is our mask break,” senior Brooke Lorbiecki said.

The masks make the dancers more exhausted because they lose their breath faster, according to junior Maddy Oechsner.

“We are obviously breathing pretty heavily when we are dancing and when you are breathing heavily, the mask sucks into your mouth and it suffocates you a little bit,” Oechsner said.

Coach Tammy Rolsma said the masks do not seem to affect the dancers, but she has noticed they get more tired than previous years.

“[The dancers] are a bit more winded when the performance is complete,” Rolsma said.

Along with the struggle of wearing masks, the dance team now has to adjust to a smaller audience at their performances.

“It makes me a little sad that less people get to see [us performing] because we work really hard,” Oechsner said.

For Lorbiecki, performing in front of fewer people is not as fun as a larger crowd.

Because students are not allowed to watch football games,which is where the dance team performs their halftime routine, they are dancing for a different audience than previous years.

Senkbeil said, “With mostly parents watching I think it defeats the point of school spirit if no students from our school can actually see the routine and get hyped.”