Starting the season off on the right foot

Putting all your effort, talent, energy, and hard work out on the dance floor for a two-minute and five-second routine without knowing how your competitors that you’re against did. The New Ulm Just For Kix Senior Hip Hop team did just that and secured the first-place win against their 10th-grade Junior Hip Hop team and five other teams at their first-season competition in Sauk Rapids, Minnesota.

Senior Chloe Miller said, “I was totally shocked that we won, especially since they announced there was a tie for second place. I for sure thought we would tie with our other Hip Hop team.”

The New Ulm Just For Kix program has grown rapidly over the past few years. So much so that each grade from grade 5 to grade 10 has their own hip-hop team due to the number of dancers in each class. Because of this, the 10th-grade Junior Hip Hop team competed in the same division as the Senior Hip Hop team, which is grades 11 and 12, at the competition.

The 10th-grade Junior Hip Hop team didn’t place, but Coach Molly Reinhart said, “We strive hard to imbed it in our dancers that if you place, you deserve to enjoy the moment; if you don’t place, appreciate other people’s talent.” She continued and said, “I got the best compliment from a parent from another town at the competition about how our teams had such good sportsmanship so I would say our goal has been achieved.”

So although they may have competed as separate teams in the division, they are all still from the same town and continue to support each other no matter what place each team gets.