Grants HS dance team looks for new girls

By Jim Tiffin
Cibola County Bureau

GRANTS — Tricia Council said she looks forward to trying out for the Grants High School dance team, the Anchorettes, again this year.

The 17-year-old junior said this will be her second year if she makes the team, a goal she has set that means a lot to her.

“I have been dancing since I was 2,” she said. “It is who I am, it is what I do.”

The Anchorettes will have four days of tryouts from 4-6 p.m., April 14-17 and all students at Grants High School are welcome, said Joanna Fitch, coach of the team.

Dance routines

Fitch said the team is like any sports team at the high school, with a coach and practices, but dance routines instead of plays.

Team members must also meet the same requirements as the players on other team, such as maintaining a 2.0 grade point average, attend practices, and not get into trouble, said Elmer Chavez, Grants-Cibola County school District athletic director.

The tryouts will be held at the north gymnasium on campus, Fitch said.

Unlike sports teams at GHS though, the dance team must pay for its own uniforms and for trips to such events as the state dance team competition or dance camp this summer.

Uniforms cost between $300 to $600 each, Fitch said, depending on what style and material the team orders.

Smaller team

The dance team started out this school year with 18 members but currently only has eight, Fitch said.

The 10 girls who were on the team had a variety of problems during the year, but the bottom line is they are no longer on the team.

This is Fitch’s second year as coach and her lifelong friend Tracy Valdez are coaching the team. The two attended Grants High School together.

“I have noticed the kind of structure that can be discovered by the girls when they are on a dance team,” Fitch said. “It is good for he girls to learn teamwork and discipline.”

Tryouts

The only senior on the team, Daryl Ray, will be teaching the girls trying out for the dance team a routine during the first couple days of tryouts, Fitch said.

Then, each girl will perform the routine for the coaches, and cuts will be made until eight members of the dance team are selected.

Ray, 18, said she wanted to be on the dance team when she entered high school because her older sister was on the team.

“It makes you stand out, not everyone is a dancer,” she said. “You get to wear pretty hairstyles and makeup and have a flash of spirit.”

Having fewer dance team members means each girl is more important to the success of the team, and the eight become closer to each other, she said.

“You develop a closer bond, you get can’t do that with 18 girls,” she said.

During the spring and summer the team will be conducting fundraisers toward purchasing their uniforms for next year.
Fitch said the team will do fund raisers together and each team member can do them on her own as well.

Information: (505) 290-0069.

To contact reporter Jim Tiffin call (505) 287-2197 or e-mail: jtiffin.independent@yahoo.com.