Success Is The Name of the Game – West Ranch High School’s Dance Team
This year, West Ranch High School’s dance team has a lot to be proud of – after bringing home a total of 12 national titles from the Contest of Champions Competition in Florida, there’s plenty of smiles and success to go around.
West Ranch’s dance team, led by coach Tammie Johnston, has worked hard to prep for the competition, which rounds up participants from all across the United States to compete for the title of Grand Champion. This year, over 800 teams competed, and West Ranch was one of its biggest contenders.
Tammie, who’s headed the West Ranch dance team for a decade now, shared in the excitement and pride as her team brought home wins in categories like lyrical, hip hop, contemporary, and Small Jazz.
Costumes and choreography came together to help secure the team’s wins, but as Tammie puts it, it’s the hard work and long hours of practice that really sealed the deal.
“I teach them how to dance and how to execute things, but everyone has to pull their own weight,” she says.
Preparing for competitions like the Contest of Champions requires dedication and commitment to the sport. Under Tammie’s guidance and with the support of one another, the team was able to bring home impressively high scores in a number of different categories.
Undoubtedly, this year’s wins are a testament to the cooperation and collaboration between Tammie, the team, and their senior team captain, Ana Markovich. At the end of the day, titles and trophies all mean one thing: teamwork is everything.
Like all other sport coaches, Tammie appreciates and emphasizes the importance of the team’s shared love of the sport, which is a huge part of what ensured their wins at this year’s competition.
West Ranch’s success this year is made even more special by the fact that it was the first post-COVID return to the dance floor. In the midst of a tumultuous return to the norm, Tammie and her team used their combined efforts and dedication to make West Ranch – and their community – proud.
Dance is an intricate sport that demands a certain level of attention to detail, togetherness, and perseverance. As both Tammie and her dancers can tell you, they’ve mastered all of the above, which is what helped them bring home the gold this time and will help them do it again in the future.
“I don’t have to force them to work hard,” admits Tammie. “They are quite literally the hardest working girls I have ever worked with as a coach.”
Under the continued guidance of Tammie and her team captains, the West Ranch dance team has a lot more fun and success to anticipate in the coming years, and the future is looking very bright for the Wildcats dancers.
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