by Will Cohen, staff writer

The Hopkins Dance team receives new talent at the beginning of each dance season. This year is unlike any other year considering HRDT added 25 new dancers to the roster.

“It’s really good to have a lot of new dancers after each year.  It gives us a lot of depth as a team,” said Lizzy Goodman, senior.

With so much talent in this upcoming year, HRDT was made an executive decision to add a B squad in addition to the JV and varsity teams to better organize and properly place each dancer.

“The B team will be a fantastic place for younger dancers to gain more confidence and skill,” said Jordan Shear, senior.

For high school sports, athletes are reliant on each other for leadership and motivation, especially from captains and coaches.

“For me personally, I’m going to work my hardest at every practice and show the younger dancers how to become varsity material,” said Ellie Marschinke, senior captain.

With additional dancers, practices are constructed in different ways than last year. The team had to move practices into the old gym, because the dance room won’t be large enough to fit all three teams.

“It’s going to be hard to communicate with all the dancers now because we have such a limited space. A difficulty will be getting the attention of the dancers because there’s going to be more voices in the room,” Marschinke said.

The team practices six days a week, doing yoga, lifting weights, practicing ballet, running around the track, and going over choreography. On top of that, the captains take the extra responsibility of choreographing parts of the dances.

“We worked really hard last year throughout the entire season.  Our team is good at maintaining a positive and productive work ethic even in the offseason,” said Alyssa Resnick, junior.

Ranging from seventh graders to seniors, there’s a wide variety of dancers this year.  The younger dancers rely mostly on the older dancers for leadership and direction.

“I’m going to be working really hard to lead by example throughout the whole season,” Marschinke said.

Additionally, dancers will be moved to different level teams from  season to season more than they have in the past.  The fall season is more relaxed compared to the competitive atmosphere surrounding the winter season where the team competes.

“It’s much harder to make varsity in the winter,” Goodman said.

The HRDT have a special family bond that they share amongst all of the Royelles.

“Having more dancers gives everybody in the program more people to have that amazing connection and develop that sister bond that runs through all HRDT dancers,” Shear said.

The HRDT are in hopes of having just a successful year as the last.  With an impressive fourth place at last year’s state, the royelles are motivated to make this year one to remember.

“This is our year.  We can prove that we have what it takes to be one of the best dance teams in the state,” Marschinke said.