Staying up late, making up dances, cleaning routines, being a leader to high school girls, and being stressed out all the time; this is what junior Amanda Morgan lives for. Morgan is the junior lieutenant for the dance team, The Silver Stars. Being a lieutenant requires a lot of work and according to sophomore Silver Star member Hailee Windsor, Morgan has what it takes.
“Amanda uses good leadership and choreography to take this team to the top,” Windsor said.
Morgan has been dancing for about 13 years and her parents have been paying about $600-$700 a year on just for the outfits. Once Morgan joined The Silver Stars, her costs for the whole year were up to about $4,000 for her studio, Le Dance, and The Silver Stars.
To be an officer one must fill out an application and make up eight 8-counts of a dance. Then the team gets taught the dance. After that the team fills out a score card rating the dancer on how well the dance was and how well the dancer taught it to them. Lastly, the coach looks over it and makes the final decision. Morgan made this position the first time she tried out.
“I wanted to try out because I wanted to choreograph dances; I just always wanted to be an officer,” Morgan said.
Morgan says she would do this again because it is fun and rewarding. She explains why she didn’t try out earlier.
“I have wanted this since freshman year but there were a lot of people on the team. There would have been no chance of me being an officer because of all the senior dancers and seniority,” Morgan said.
Morgan often stays up late at night to finish her homework because she doesn’t get home until 9:30 p.m. most nights of the week, mostly because of dance. Being an officer there is a meeting every Thursday for about an hour and a half after school but they also have to make up the dances. To make up the dances it takes about six hours, and they make at least one new dance a month.
Morgan learns more technique from her studio and feels as if it is harder at her studio. However, Morgan says Silver Stars is more fun because she gets to joke around and it is less intense. One of the great things about dance, in Morgan’s eyes, is that she challenges herself and it makes her a better person.
“What I learn at Le Dance I can apply at school with the Silver Stars,” Morgan said.
Like technique and different moves. Morgan gets ideas of what to put into dances that she has to make up on her own from her studio.
Morgan’s dances are so incredible that at the fall competition The Silver Stars went to, Morgan got a division one. Division one is the highest rank at a competition.
“Amanda’s dances are awesome! I support everything Amanda has done as an officer because she is a good teacher, and I truly respect her,” Windsor said.
Morgan deals with all the extra stress of being on dance, being a leader on the team, and coming up with dances. Morgan also has straight A’s while being in her hardest year of high school. Morgan proves she has great talent in school, being a leader, dancing, and handling pressure in all that she does.
