Like any other sport, dance and cheer are time-consuming and require hard work. A member of the Landrum Dance Team, Kate Killoran, says that people make up stereotypes about dance. A member of the Landrum Cheer team, Jordan Harris, also says that stereotypes about cheer are made. Many people here at Landrum say things such as “cheer is easy” or “dance isn’t a sport” or even “you guys don’t do anything.” Kate and Jordan shared some things they have heard from other students about their sports.
“People think all of us should be flexible and perfect 100% of the time,” Kate said.
“It’s not a sport,” Jordan said.
Dancers work hard for months to compete a routine, sort of like how a football player or soccer player practices to prepare for a game. And even before dancers actually compete, the work never ends. Cheerleaders spend months perfecting their tumbling skills and cheers for football games and competitions.
“It usually takes an hour for makeup and we need to be there two hours before competition,” Kate said.
“A long time, like five months,” Jordan said.
And if you still believe dance isn’t a sport, think again. Dancers get injured just as much- if not more- than anyone who plays any other sport. And cheerleaders take huge risks: being thrown up in the air, doing flips in the air, and trusting your teammates with your life. Another danger is through one simple miscommunication, like bending your legs, you could potentially put multiple people in danger during a stunt.
“People get injured often, but it’s usually not that bad,” Kate said.
“Every week someone is hurt, and I get hurt, I don’t know, like a lot,” Jordan said.
Working as a team doesn’t end at basketball or volleyball, dancers train hard to get ready as a team. And each dancer has a different position that requires different skills. Here’s what Kate had to say about the hardest positions of dance.
“There’s no position, but it’s really hard to execute the dance with your team as a whole,” she said.
“All of them I don’t know there is not one position harder than the other,” Jordan said.
Along with dance, Kate has to manage school, homework, and studying.
“It is extremely hard to balance, since I could have up to four hours of practice on a school night,” Kate said. “I spend 10 to 12 hours usually a week, five days a week.”
“It depends on what we’re doing, I do it like five hours a day,” Jordan said.
In the end, people stop making stereotypes about topics you don’t know about. Kate and Jordan work hard every day to perfect their skills that they have been working at for years. Dance and cheer are just as hard as any other sport, and they push their bodies to the limits. On top of everything, they make it look effortless.