For the past few months, the dance team has been spending tireless hours preparing for their state competition. On Nov. 22, their work paid off at the Topeka-Stormont Event Center in Topeka, Kansas.
“We did 50 full outs, which means three minutes of straight dancing 50 times until we were prepared,” said sophomore Leah Shilling.
The team practiced every weekday morning starting at 6:45 going through all of first hour, along with a two-hour evening practice every Thursday.
“We practice every single day—we come in, we learn the material over summer, now we just come in every day, we have cleaned so much, like count by count on our dances, and now we’re just going full out after full out,” said senior team captain Anisa Reyna.
But the preparation wasn’t all dancing. It was also about building each other up mentally and emotionally.
“Right now [before the competition], we’re writing encouraging notes to each other before state—it’s just a group of people that you know that you can always depend on,” Shilling said.
In 2023 the team placed eighth at state, falling two places short of making it to the finals. Despite their disappointment, Reyna reflected on the team’s progress over the past year.
“Last year, we had a really good team. We came in every day ready to work and we were ready for state,” Reyna said. “We got to state and did so well, we came out with no regrets about any dance. But I think this year we were even more motivated.”
On the day of the competition, the dancers performed a three-minute routine consisting of three, minute-long dances, including a fight song, a band dance and a performance piece. After performing in the preliminary round, it was announced that the Westside Dance team had advanced to the top six, securing their spot in the finals.
“Our entire team was just excited to make finals,” said co-team captain, junior Cailyn Crawford, “We could’ve gotten sixth and still been extremely proud because we had still made school history and still achieved our goal.”
For the first time in Olathe West’s history, the dance team finished the day by being awarded third place in the KSHSAA 6A division—a remarkable achievement for the program.
“We’re consistently doing things for our school, and are able to be a part of a team where everyone wants to support each other which feels really great. Like one big family,” Crawford said.
