The Extreme Dance Team is a thing of the past – in its place is the all new GBHS Dance Company.  

The Dance Company is in full-swing and ready to show Granite Bay High  what a dance team is all about. The company’s dancers are striving to earn the school’s respect. They will be focusing on technique and high-quality dance skills. 

“We are going for a more dance- and technique-based team versus to what last year’s team was,” said Nicole Bersinger, the company’s co-captain.

The GBHS Dance Company is made up of 20 girls, and it is comprised of  members from each grade level.

“As captain of the team, I am looking forward to helping the younger girls,” said Katelynne Wade, a senior and the other captain of the team. 

One of the main goals of the team is to be taken as a serious dance company. Dancers want GBHS students to be proud of this team and to obtain their encouragement as this is the first year of the company. 

“I want people to see us in a different way,” said Kiera Mogensen, a freshman on the team.

And the company’s goals aren’t without immense support. The company is led by coaches Laura Ales and Amy Wiederhold.  

“I lived at my dance studio,” Ales said. “My main style is ballet, and I went on pointe at 11. I danced at multiple dance companies.

Another beneficial quality provided by these coaches is the diversity and different variables they introduce to the girls. 

“(I was on) the junior dance company of (Geller Dance Studio),” Wiederhold said. “We performed at Disneyland, Vegas and state fairs.”

These coaches have many years of  dance experience and are determined to produce a quality dance team at GBHS. 

The team’s two captains, Wade and  Bersinger, have paired their own dance experience with the kind of quality the team wants to emulate.

“I’ve been dancing ever since (eighth grade) and now I dance in the advanced (high school) class,” Wade said. “I am also on the competitive company at my studio.” 

Bersinger, too, has lots of dance experience.

“I started doing competitive dance when I was 7, and (I was on) the old team here at GBHS,” Bersinger said.

Because the 20 dancers are from all four grade levels, the captains and coaches have to adapt.

The difference in dancers’ ages also has its  disadvantages.

“The age gap always affects things because of the maturity level,” coach Ales said.

GBHS will have many opportunities to see the company in action.  The company already performed at Grizzly Retreat and the rally on the first day of school. The company will be performing at future rallies and at football and basketball games. At the games, they will be on the sidelines and  performing routines at halftime. The girls might even go to dance competitions.

The company is going to be all power and high energy, especially with their sharp movements and high kicks. Dance team routines are a very different type of dance – the girls must be very sharp and clean with their movements.   

Among the styles of dance the team will be performing is drill, a dance that is performed in complete unison. Many of these styles of dance are new to the girls on the team.

“I am most looking forward to drill because it’s a crowd-pleaser and something new to GBHS,” Wiederhold  said. 

Morgensen, the freshman dancer, said she’s also excited by drill and other fresh approaches.

“I want to try new styles of dance,” Mogensen said.

The dancers on the Granite Bay Dance Company have been practicing non-stop and they’re ready to show their routines.

“I want to show this school … that this team has a lot of good skills,” Bersinger said, “and we are a really powerful group all together.”