Yes, CHS has a dance team.

“The dance team is definitely a spirit team. We are there to pump up the crowd and to amp up the players. We definitely are focusing on school and community and being apart of that. The dance team is here to perform and entertain, whether that is doing quick dances while the basketball players are playing or during halftime at center court,” CHS dance team head coach Chloe Tennant said.

CHS has had a dance team for several years. However, very few students, staff and members of the Clayton community know about this winter sports team.

In recent years, the dance team has been the smallest team at CHS, with only four to six dancers. This year, there are five dancers on the team.

Of the five girls on the team, there is one freshman, two sophomores and two juniors. Although there are only females on the team currently, students of any gender are welcome to join.

The team practices after school two to three days each week for about an hour and a half.

Practices here at the building typically are running, stretching, doing a lot of form or technique practices. So, the kicks and the spins and the turns and all that, really working on some of those technical forms of dance. And then we also go over sideline dances to make sure they are clean. And we also add new ones on to it as well. Learning multiple sideline dances, critiquing them, getting them to be as perfect as possible,” Tennant said.

Besides these practices at CHS, new this year, the dance team goes to a local dance studio on Sunday four times throughout the season. “Going to the studio is a really awesome experience for our girls. We go and work with an experienced dancer who has danced her entire life and even went to college as a dancer. She creates our choreography and teaches the girls a lot of skills and techniques. We do these clinics to help us get ready for our performance,” Tennant said.

The dance team performs at every home varsity boys’ and girls’ basketball games. At the games, the dance team stands next to the winter cheer team. The dance and cheer team do not coordinate or collaborate with one another, but Tennant hopes that that will change in the future.

“During each basketball game, we do short dances called sideline dances. They are quick eight count dances, which are easily done with or without music. These occur throughout the game, such as during time outs or between quarters,” Tennant said. During halftime, the team performs and dances to Ariana Grande’s “No Tears Left to Cry.”

This is Tennant’s first season as the head coach of the dance team. With high hopes for the team’s future, Tennant is eager to rebuild the dance program at CHS and hopes to double the size of the tam next season from five to 10 dancers.

“Every year the team will get better as we grow the program. The first stepping stone is establishing new traditions. We are going to revamp everything. This season there are new uniforms and new performances, and you see the dance team much more frequently,” Tennant said. “Every year having that presence will generate more interest in the team and grow the program.”

Another goal Tennant has is to expand the length of the dance team’s season at CHS. Currently dance is a winter sport, and the team does not start learning the dances until the season starts. As a result, it is difficult for the team to learn multiple dances. Tennant hopes to incorporate summer practices, which will help the dance team hit the ground running once the season begins.

By having a longer season, the dance team will also be able to attend local competitions and increase their presence at other CHS sporting events, such as football games.

The dancers on the team are excited to be part of the process of revamping the dance program at Clayton, and they share similar goals for the future of the program.

“Hopefully we can make the CHS dance team year round. I also hope that in the future the team has more members than just four,” dancer Ariana Basey, junior, said.

The dancers and Tennant have created this small community at CHS and can not wait to see what the future holds.

“My favorite part would have to be how much of a family we are,” sophomore Taylor Warren said. “Everyone on the team is so supportive of each other. We share so many laughs and fun memories.”