Holdingford dancers hope for a return to state, they have experience and community support
HOLDINGFORD – Led by seniors who were seventh graders when the program began, this year's Holdingford dance program is hoping to repeat its first-ever finals appearance and continue to put the town on the varsity dance map.
Started in 2018, the team has high hopes as it is returning all of last year’s state finalist high kick team.
Coach Grayce Meyer is starting her fourth year with the program.
“We have such a good group of seniors this year and they are the first OGs we had,” she said. “They were seventh graders when the program started,” Meyer said.
After not having any seniors last year, the Holdingford dance program is returning all of its state competitors and has 29 athletes in total. It’s hard not to feel positive about the Huskers’ upcoming season after winning the West Central Conference in both events last winter. Also, the high kick team qualified as a state finalist for the first time in school history and competed February 18 in the Target Center in Minneapolis. St. Cloud Cathedral swept both the jazz and high kick competitions and Holdingford’s high kick show placed fourth.
Holdingford’s first state appearance was in 2021-22, when its jazz team advanced, but its high kick team missed qualifying by one place in the section competition. The Huskers hope 2023-24 could be the first year they place at the state competition.
“Our dances are a lot more difficult this year than previous years because the girls have been learning new skills,” Meyer said. “We did a lot of camps this summer, brought in a lot of guest coaches. A lot of them are actually in local studios as well.”
Activities director Jason Bruns said that for several years prior to the varsity sport's addition, the school had a Just For Kix program, which instructs girls from ages 3-18 in dance outside of high school competitions. With high participation in the program, some parents of some older girls in the program petitioned for the team. There were 20 athletes on the first Husker dance team, which was coached by Jessica Mueller. Bruns is impressed with the Huskers' performance and with the community's support.
"To compete at the state level in any sport is impressive," he said.
The current seniors, who were then seventh graders in their first year of varsity eligibility, had participated in studio dance and Just For Kix, so when they heard about tryouts they thought, “Might as well join,” senior Annie Supan said.
Most currently dance in the fall at football games, too.
Meyer is a 2013 Sartell High School grad and won the state championship her sophomore year followed by two straight state runner-up performances. She is also an assistant coach on Sartell's fall performance team. Her assistants are well-connected, too. Cousin Claire Peterson came up through St. Cloud Cathedral's perennially successful program and also coaches on the Sabre performance team. Bailey Eakins is a graduate of Anoka's dance program and is currently a senior on the dance team at the College of St. Benedict and Brooke Fiedler is a graduate of Holdingford's program.
Meyer said the coaching staff has not taken an easy approach, despite the newness of the team. She described the style as “tough love.”
“I had (Peterson), and then also what helped a lot was the first year I took over as head coach, she was the only assistant coach so we really got to do it together, which was really fun,” Meyer said. “I don’t think it was that scary (to come to a new program). Because parents and dancers were so welcoming, it just made it more fun.”
She said this year they have a lot of trust in the older group’s leadership skills and motivation. There are six seniors on the team this year, all of whom helped develop the theme and choreography. They are Jadielyn Rudolph, Aubrie Opatz, Hannah Kuklok, Paige Fiedler, Supan and Jada Mosey. Holdingford still relies on several seventh and eighth graders on its team, a challenge the seniors said was beneficial when they get older.
“Definitely what we learned as seventh graders is entirely different from what they’re learning now,” Mosey said. “I feel like it’s progressed so much.”
Over the summer the team brought in coaches from other teams and dancers from Minnesota colleges to learn new skills. The girls said they’re always looking to improve so the guest coaches and additional skills drove even more desireto do better in postseason competitions.
“The harder skills get better scores and we’re always looking to increase what we can do,” Fiedler said.
This year's theme is magicians and the Huskers incorporate magic tricks into the show. Holdingford’s first judged event was a showcase Saturday in Sartell where the Huskers’ and other teams’ routines were scored privately before the first competition. Meyer said their score was right where the team expected and wanted to be. This time last year the seniors were surprised to see their scores be competitive with traditionally successful schools, but by January the motivation to “beat them when it really counted” set in, Kuklok said.
“I remember we got our numbers back last year and they were very high, they were like where teams finaled the year prior,” Meyer said. “So we were like, ‘We can do this if we just keep working towards that goal.’”
More: Cathedral dance sweeps with two Class A state titles; Storm reach Class 2A finals
More: Cathedral dance wins Class A state jazz title; Sartell, Sauk Rapids reach finals
More: Sartell, St. Cloud compete in section dance finals
Packing the Target Center in Minneapolis for the state competition and high schools across the state during the regular season, Minnesota dance fans are notoriously rabid. Holdingford’s dancers love feeding off the energy of the crowd, especially from Huskers fans. Dressing in costume on theme is important for the die-hards. The dancers were especially impressed by those who supported without previous connections to the team.
“I liked watching our parents kind of transform from the early years,” Mosey said. “They were a little scared to get out there and dress up but now they’re like crazy dance parents.”
Even hours before the state competition in Minneapolis, people line up outside the venue in frigid temperatures for good seats. For last year’s state competition, Holdingford's emergency service departments gave the Huskers an escort through town where community members waved and wished the team good luck.
Kuklok said the team has had a lot of community support. The seniors said the team felt like a family and Supan said being a smaller community makes it that much easier to connect and achieve their goals. Kuklock and Fiedler has younger sisters on the team and Brooke Fiedler is Paige’s older sister.
“It’s kind of cool to represent our town and get our name on the map, especially people in the bigger cities now know where Holdingford is,” Fiedler said.
“I think when they start younger, they’re much better when they get older because they have more experience,” Opatz said.
“And we get really close to them,” Supan added.
Contact reporter Reid Glenn at rglenn@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on St. Cloud Times: Holdingford dance team hopes for a return to state finals in 2023
