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Schools

Hamden High Dance Team Enjoys Another Successful Season

As their season ends, the coaches of the Hamden High School Dance Team reflect on what makes a successful team.

The Hamden High School Dance Team had another successful season this year, winning the Connecticut State Dance Team Competition for pom for the fifth year in a row and for kickline for the second year in a row.

They also placed in the top 20 for pom and kickline in the UDA National Dance Team Competition.

Each time her dancers’ take the stage, Coach Kathy Cavanaugh feels confidant in her dancers despite the butterflies in her stomach.

“I get nervous just like the girls do. The last thing I say to them before they go on is just show everyone the love that you have for dance,” Cavanaugh said. “I encourage them to forget everything else and let their love of dance take over. When you’re well trained your muscle memory takes over and your body just enjoys dancing. It hears the music.”

Pom is a form of dance characterized by strong, sharp arm motions combined with jazz and hip-hop techniques. The dancers also must have poms in their hands for at least eighty percent of the routine, according to the team advisor, Kathy Swillinger.

Kickline also incorporates multiple dance techniques but is most recognizable by the dancers performing a series of high kicks. The team also does hip-hop and jazz, but does not compete in those areas.

Swillinger started the Hamden High School Dance Team in 2000. According to Cavanaugh, the team has evolved from young athletes interested in dance to a competitive group of young women with strong dance backgrounds.

“I think that because we’ve brought it to such a high level, that they need dance experience or some dance background to be part of the team now," Cavanaugh said. "We’ve become that advanced.” 

Cavanaugh believes the team’s ongoing success is due to positive teaching and the dancers’ work ethics.

“They want to do well. I am a very positive coach. You get so much more out of kids who are happy and I give a lot of compliments and a lot of, “OK you know that was great girls but I just need your toes to be pointed a little harder,”” Cavanaugh said. “I coach very positive and I think that really helps with their high school psyches. They come into practice with a great attitude.”

According to Cavanaugh, being partnered with an advisor allows her to focus specifically on the dancers’ skills and technique, while Swillinger can focus on scheduling competitions and handling the administrative aspect of the team. There is also an assistant coach, Kelley May, who helps Cavanaugh perfect the routines and coach all of the dancers.

“I would attribute our success to our phenomenal coaches Cavanaugh and May. Both of them are just amazing technique-wise teaching but also with motivation," Swillinger said. "Kathy Cavanaugh has been coaching for many years. Years ago she was the cheer coach for Hamden and her teams were always in the top of the state.” 

Cavanaugh helps motivate the team by participating in all of the conditioning exercises and by being her normal, energetic self. Cavanaugh, who has two children in college, runs the stairwells and hallways and does warm-ups with the dancers each day at practice.

“I strive to do my best for them every practice and they really have to reach up to my standards. I demand the best from them and I give them the best that I have. They’re working at 100 percent and that really helps,” Cavanaugh said.

Next season, the team looks forward to a new competition, the New England Regional, for those teams who qualify through the Connecticut State Dance Team Competition.

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