School group moves with first year grace

Hannah Hoover has been dancing since she was three-years-old.
Never interested in sports, Hoover has always wished for her school to have a dance team.
Hoover, a senior at North Lincoln High School, is now the captain of the school’s dance team, which is now in its first year.
“I was so happy when we got one,” Hoover said.
The group consists of 11 members from grades 9 to 12 who say they all love to dance.
“It’s something fun, and it’s the first time for North Lincoln,” said Maggie Roberts, a ninth-grader who is on the team. “It’s a chance I took and went for it.”
The team practices twice a week and performs at football and basketball games.
Team coach Kim Harbison is proud that North Lincoln has this type of school spirit.
“We have fun, we mess up, we smile,” Harbison said.
The idea for the high school to have a dance team surfaced last March when a group of girls asked Harbison if she would form one.
The idea was presented to the student improvement team and was approved.
Becky Lawrence, assistant coach for the team, said she was happy to help out Harbison with getting the group together.
“We have a wonderful group of girls who have bonded well together,” Lawrence said.
In order to be part of the team, roughly 42 girls came to try out. Only 15 girls made it, a number which has gone down slightly.
“We looked for technique, the girls had to have some sort of rhythm,” Harbison said. “They have to be able to leap and jump.”
The music includes everything from funk to hip-hop to jazz.
Senior Adam Shinn wrote a song for the dance team. When the dance team performs to it, Shinn also takes the stage.
“Ms. Harbison called me out of Spanish class because she heard I was reputable and asked me to make a song,” Shinn said.
“It took me about a week,” he added.
The song is known as the “Adam” song.
At the Eastern Dance Association at Peace College in Raleigh this past summer, the dance team received several awards. Four other dance teams from surrounding areas also attended.
NLHS Dance Team received a Superior award as a team, a Superior award for their Coach, and a Superior award for Spirit Day.
The team hopes to add more members and possibly have separate dancers for basketball games and football games.
by Amy Wadsworth