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Dance Team Hip-Hops Its Way Toward Championship Team Taught Routine to Young Dancers, Who Will Perform at Tonight's BTHS Football Game.

Posted on: Tuesday, 13 September 2005, 18:00 CDT

Get together 20 young women, add a driving hip-hop beat, mix it up with unending enthusiasm and confidence, and you have created a possible scene right out of the pages of the book Queen Bees and Wannabees -- a potential mine field of individuals in a social pecking order.

For some girls at Bartram Trail High, however, the brightly painted trash can in Coach Patty Adams' classroom is the place for all that dreck. Because when these dancers walk through the door and the music starts, they are all business -- with eyes firmly set on bringing the school a national dance championship.

The camaraderie and the goals of the team come from the philosophy and leadership of Adams. After spending 10 years as a freelance choreographer, Adams found her home at Bartram Trail. The team under her direction has excelled in the past five years.

"I came to the school when it opened," Adams said. "For the past five years our athletes have worked very hard. They have placed in the top five in national competitions and they are determined and committed to winning a national title."

To get there, the team will perform at football games through the season and then kick their training into high gear in order to prepare for the March 12-15 National Dance Alliance competition held in Orlando.

"The team will start really getting in shape after football season," Adams said. "We will be doing weight and endurance training and really tighten up the routines in preparation for the nationals in March."

Tonight, however, the team will focus on one of the more fun performances during the coming year. As they take the field during halftime of Bartram Trail's opening football game against Palatka, the dance team will be joined by about 100 young girls in first through eighth grade who attended last weekend's Bear Camp. The team spent all day with the youngsters to teach them a routine, which all will perform this evening.

The girls worked on their performance under the watchful eyes of Adams and Diana Conde, the Bartram dance team captain.

"The girls all get so excited and it is a thrill to have them perform with us," Conde said. "We make their pom-poms and it is just a sea of white when they come on the field."

The senior captain said she started hip hop dancing in the third grade. The Bartram dance team currently practices a total of 11 hours per week. In addition to their training, a lot of the members also take studio dance lessons. Most of them come from either a jazz or ballet background and started dance at a very young age, Conde said.

The coach said the team members are not only well-rounded dancers but athletes as well, and their commitment to each other and to their goals provides them a solid foundation to accomplish their goals.

Turn up the volume.terry.brown@jacksonville.com,(904) 287-0618 ext. 201#

Source: Florida Times Union

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