South Brunswick Dance Team in Step With Competition and Strange Schedule

While it can often be as difficult to figure out the schedule as a routine, the South Brunswick High School dance team has a way of ending up where it wants.

For the members of the South Brunswick squad, that would be the National Dance Team Competition at the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Fla. on Feb. 5-6.

South Brunswick earned the right to compete in the Nationals over the summer. Before the Nationals, South Brunswick High will host the regions on Jan. 9 in an event called, "The Battle of the Northeast." After the Nationals, South Brunswick will compete in the state finals on Feb. 20.

"It's kind of strange to have the state finals after the Nationals, but that's the way it is," SBHS dance coach Regina Boudwin said.

As Boudwin explained, the scheduling is primarily due to different governing bodies within the sport. The regional and national events are run by the Universal Dance Association. The state competition is under the governing body of the New Jersey Cheer and Dance Coaches Association.

Boudwin is used to the odd schedule because she has been a part of the SBHS squad for a long time. She is in her third season as a head coach. Before that, Boudwin served as the team's choreographer, even during her time in college at St. Joe's. From 1994 to 1998, Boudwin was a member of the team herself.

This year, South Brunswick has 21 members on its team. These hard-working individuals are Kayla Allen, D'Kota Barrios, Jennetta Dellapa, Daphne Donnellan, Kendall Lavalle, Kimberly Reed, Cassie Yeung, Doug Arouh, Anna Goldin, Mackenzie Rice, Melanie Spilatore, Christina Trautwein, Rebecca Arroyo, Sydney Fiorentino, Lexie Hohmeier, Morgan Johnston, Hannah Martin, Danielle McGregor, Samantha Orokos, Gianna Rosamilia and Kaitlin Swierczek.

For competitive purposes, South Brunswick has a Black Team and a Gold Team that it enters into events. This is primarily a separation based on experience and skill level. Nonetheless, both South Brunswick teams won state titles last year in their division.

Each team has to learn two, two-minutes routines -- one for Pom and one for Jazz.

"Pom is a combination of dance and cheer," Coach Boudwin said. "There is still a lot of dance technique, but they dance with pom-poms in their hands.  Jazz is focused on technique. It's a more interpretative style  of dance."  

In National rankings last year, the Gold Team was 10th in Jazz. The Black Team was 20th in Pom.

 "We have a talented squad with a lot of hard-working people," Coach Boudwin said. "We're getting better every season. We're hoping to outdo our last season."

For now, that means a lot of practice time. Come Jan. 9, the action will start with the big meet SBHS hosts. Then, South Brunswick will get a chance to see where it stacks up against the best teams in the country.

 "It's a pretty popular sport," Boudwin said. "At Nationals, there are over 300 teams."

 Regardless how Nationals play out, South Brunswick will be back to work.

 "We have to defend our state title," Boudwin said. "We'll be going for our fourth state title in a row."