The 2010 season turned out to be a golden one for the
Kentridge Chatelaines
The dance team, at 52-members strong, took first and second place in the show and kick categories, respectively, at the Washington Interscholastic Athletic Association 4A Dance/Drill Championships in March. In addition to that, the team walked away with the winner’s trophy as the academic champions of the meet, with a cumulative grade point average of 3.54.
It’s not as if this is the first time the Chatelaines have seen this kind of success. In fact, they are somewhat used to it.
“We’re pretty consistent,” said coach Staci Mattson, of the team she’s been overseeing for the past eight years, and for which she once performed as a Chatelaine as well. “In the past, there’s been years where we have placed in all three routines.”
Mattson, who is as understated as she is matter of fact, estimated the girls have seen roughly six state championships in the last eight years.
She attributed the team’s success to hard work, as well as a program that is supplemented by middle schools that also have dance teams.
“It helps that we have middle schools that have dance teams that feed into Kentridge,” Mattson said. “They learn the basics at middle school, which helps prepare them for high school.”
The KR team also stays connected to those younger teams through a joint performance with them, as well as junior clinics involving them through the school year.
That means a lot of girls coming into KR already know about the Chatelaines, and want to dance for them.
“We’ve kept it at 50-54 over the last four years,” Mattson said of the team, which has competitive tryouts.
Mattson noted the Chatelaines aren’t just about dance, though. They’re expected to keep their grades up, and their academic focus in place.
“I would say the majority, if not all, go on to college,” Mattson said of the squad, which has to adhere to a higher gpa than the district requires in order to participate. “They know that dance is extra. If they don’t have the grades, they don’t dance. We’re not teaching them just dance, but life skills.”
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