Adrenaline rushes through their veins as the Millard North Dance Team approaches the Marley, the floor the girls take the stage on at the Universal Dance Association High School National Competition. The girls prepare to represent the MN blue, green, and silver and hopefully bring home another white, gleaming jacket.
MN’s dance program is set to a high standard of winning national titles. These 6x National Champions and 29x Nebraska State Champions strive to be the best of the best. They have a legacy to uphold.
Senior Brooklyn Bratetic has poured her soul into dance since she could remember. Starting her freshman year, worked toward the goal of being the best team in the country. For her and the rest of the team, performing with their teammates at Nationals leaves a melancholy feeling in their hearts.
“My favorite part [of Nationals] is doing our last dance together of our jazz routine, waving to the crowd…. [There are always] tears in our eyes,” Bratetic said.
Although time and effort consumed trying to get their routine perfect is assumed, the girls couldn’t have done it without their coaches. Dance coach Andrea Feltz has been working with the girls to help them push themselves to the limit for Nationals.
“I always tell the girls to keep taking advantage of every second of practice, it’s never too late until we step on the final score for the last time,” Feltz said.
During the week, the team has practices up to 4 or 5 times per week, rehearsing from 6:15 to 7:30 AM. As the big date of Feb. 2 inches closer, the girls sometimes add extra practices during the week to make sure everything is crisp and well put together for their pieces.
“We put a lot of hard work in, on the floor, hoping to get to finals [to know] we did as much as we could do to get there,” Bratetic said.
In addition to competing, the girls also have a schedule blocked off to relax and have fun. One thing senior Caitlin Gregg enjoys on the team’s second day in Florida is exploring Disney World as one big dance family.
“After dancing, on the second day, we go to the Disney after-party hosted just for the dance teams, which is really fun,” Gregg said. We also have at least 30 mins of pool time while in Florida,”
This year, the team took home second place in Game Day. This year’s nationals was their first year showcasing this event. also placed third with their Jazz routine and fourth in Pom.
Although the results weren’t what the team was hoping for, the girls enjoyed the time they got to spend together as a team. The girls consider themselves family, and like a family, they endure highs and lows.
“All of us have pride in ourselves with not only attending Millard North but also being a part of this dance team because of the love we all have for each other,” junior MNDT dancer Ella Quick said.
“Bleeding blue” is a term often used to describe a display of MN pride. The dance team’s dedication to repping the school has rightfully earned this title, the girls have decided.
“To me, ‘bleeding blue’ means having so much pride in going to this school,” Quick said. “It’s the way my team and I represent Millard North,”
Though this is the end of the long road for seniors, the Millard North Dance Team’s legacy lives on in the hearts of its team and the people who support it.