Up until this year, East Islip’s kickline team has performed at events like the pep rally, football games, and basketball games, but that changes this year.
Kickline is basically a school dance team. Because of this, mostly everyone has a dance background and dances at a studio. At practice, the kickline team stretches and spends time learning choreography. Then the team works on perfecting their dances so that they can perform well.
“My favorite part of being on the kickline team is getting to dance with my friends,” Sophomore Olivia Ulrich said.
This year, performances won’t just be in the gym because the kickline team is starting to participate in competitions again. The team started competing in the 1980s and competed last in 2019.
At the competition, teams can compete in Jazz, Hip Hop, Kick, and Pom, however the East Islip Kickline Team will be competing in Small Varsity Jazz and Medium Varsity Pom.
Teams perform their dances at their scheduled times and when they are not performing, they can sit in the dancer side of the audience and watch other teams. When all of the dances have been performed for that session, there is an awards ceremony where they announce the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners for all categories.
At the first competition East Islip Kickline Team competed in this year, the Long Island Dance Team Association Competition at Nassau Community College, they got 2nd place in Medium Varsity Pom!
“It’s both an honor and a privilege to get to represent East Islip at competitions with some of the best teams in the country being from Long Island,” East Islip Kickline Coach Mikaela Naccarato said. “I couldn’t be more proud of the hard work and dedication our team has put in these past couple of months!”