Ladypaws end fall dance season on disappointing note

November 24, 2009 • Taylor Rahe, Reporter  
Filed under Opinion, Sports, Student Life

Crunk is a musical form that originated from southern hip hop, electro and dancehall in the 1990s. It even originated from a book written by Dr. Suess. There was a misunderstanding with the meaning of this word, but this is the meaning the Ladypaws were aiming for at the last home game against KC Piper. The meaning of the word was not the only misunderstanding for the night, though.

The Ladypaws work hard on perfecting their dances and extra work was put into this particular dance. Every year the girls put together at least one hip-hop routine. The song chosen this year was “Halftime” by the Ying-Yang twins. The Ladypaws danced to this song a few weeks earlier at the Hogan Prep game and it has been done in former years also. When the 09-10 drill team performed the first time it appeared there were no conflicts between the girls and the community, but apparently there was some miscommunication.

As of Tuesday evening, they were scheduled to dance to “Halftime” but as they were preparing to go out on the field, hair ready and dressed, there was a problem. Principle John Earnst and Mitch Beims, Athletic Director, came in and announced the drill team would not be allowed to dance to the chosen song. Drill Team sponser, Karen Beightel, said that she was aware they didn’t love the song, but not as far as not dancing to it. It was very unexpected.

“We had no idea that this was going to be a problem. No one ever came and talked to any of the captains or Karen about their concerns. If we were to know about it, we would have been able to dance at our last home game.” Said Co-captain, Susan Iverson, “We’ve never had complaints about this song before. The dance was completely appropriate. It was just a poor way to go about things in the end, because more people were upset by the lack of miscommunication.”

You would think it would be over with by now, right? Well, the dancers were not the only ones upset or hurt by that emotional night. Grandparents, friends, parents, aunts, and uncles come from all over to the games to support their girls. Huge fan, Garison Morris, junior, was a bit disappointed, too. “I was really looking forward to watching them dance. That dance was my favorite and I was shocked when I was told they wouldn’t get to perform at all. Not to mention how awkward it was having crying girls around.”

A large amount of people believe that there would have been many more complaints about us not dancing then if we would have danced, but it appears we won’t get the chance to find out. November 3^rd was the very last home football game that seniors, Lauren Hower, drill team captain, and Leigha Sweet, would ever get to the chance to dance at. Many believe that this problem could have been resolved by simply better communication. For future reference to everyone, please do research, trust the students, discuss, and don’t react out of emotion.

Note that the high school administrators declined the opportunity to be quoted in this article. The Ladypaws do appreciate the apologies though.

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