When Permian High School’s Panther Paws varsity and JV teams converged on Denton for the American Dance Drill Team Nationals they drove for the best and took some top honors.
A total of 33 dancers on varsity and JV participated, said Kristin Carter, director of the Permian dance program and Panther Paws Dance coach.
It was the first time in 12 years that the varsity had returned to the American Dance Drill Team Nationals and the first time ever for the JV, Carter said.
“I thought it was great. We were thrilled with the results and our girls did amazing in every single dance. Both teams performed to the best of their ability and we couldn’t be more proud of how well they did,” Carter said.
Varsity has freshmen to seniors and JV has freshmen to juniors.
“The hope is that the JV members move up to varsity and returners stay with varsity. The program is kind of designed to help grow the kids to that varsity level so that you’re just getting better and better every year,” Carter added. “It’s become a large number of kids that have been able to go through both teams, so it’s really cool that we’ve been able to offer both teams.”
Especially after COVID and everything the students have faced, Carter said it was nice to see the girls loving what they do and having fun and being proud of themselves.
“As a coach, my favorite moment is watching them come off the floor, knowing that they did their absolute best, regardless of what place they get or what anybody thinks,” Carter said.
“I just love seeing the smiles on their faces when they know that you just did the best they could have done. This is a really special team this year. They have a really unique bond and so it’s been fun to watch them grow together and just do so well at a competition that we haven’t been to in so many years. It was neat to see the successes that they attained at the competition,” she added.
A desire to try something different was one of the reasons the team went back to this competition.
“… We’ve been doing Crowd Pleasers for so many years. (We) just wanted to try something new,” she said.
The squad is currently practicing for the spring Black Magic show.
“We’re working on choreography and that’s kind of a tradition that started a couple of years ago,” Carter said. “The Panther Paws are fully a part of this show. It’s super fun, so that’s what we’re working on today. A lot of routines, they’ll help choreograph. It’s really neat. These girls will get experience with choreographing themes, because it’s kind of a project for them so it’s neat to collaborate with another program in the school …”
Carter said the girls’ effort was more about having a somewhat normal school year than not being able to do things the past couple of years.
“Like I said, they’re a special team. They really enjoy each other’s company. And I think it was just nice to go back to some normalcy, even though we faced a few times this year with people being sick and quarantined. I think we’re all just excited to have something normal. So competition was great. It was like a breath of fresh air. It was normal and we had so much fun,” she added.
Seniors Emilee Easley, 18, Brooklyn Vieth, 17, Victoria Sickels, 18, and Maddie Ramirez, 18, felt they did really well at competition.
“I think we did really good for going into the competition not really knowing what to expect or what to do. I’m really proud of us and what we accomplished as a team,” Ramirez said.
Easley said the other teams were really good.
“It was just different from what we’re used to because it was more of like a drill team competition, rather than a dance team competition,” Easley added.
The Panther Paws’ routines were more dance than drill, they said.
Sickels said it was great to come away from the contest with top honors.
“Because we knew that we left it on the floor and everyone gave 100% input into the routine. So we all felt really good coming off and knew that we did our best,” Sickels added.
Vieth said you can see the bond the team has when they perform.
“Because when a team doesn’t bond as (well), it shows in their performances. But I’m so thankful for the team that we have this year,” Vieth added. “I couldn’t have asked for a better team for my senior year.”
They all said they plan to stay in touch after they finish high school.
Ramirez said it means a lot to do as well as they did in the contest.
“… This is our first year back to normalcy, in school, in dance. We’re full time spending time with each other, all day every day and it’s an experience that you’ll never forget,” Ramirez added.
Kayla Garza is the assistant director and in charge of the JV. Garza echoed Carter saying her girls did very well.
For about half the JV, it was their first time competing. The other half are returners.
“With that team, they are actually a team that cares about each other. They work well together and they’re best friends, so I think having that friendship helps out a lot on the dance floor,” Garza added.
Permian HS Varsity – Panther Paws
- 2nd Place Overall Champions for Small Team
- 2nd Place Team Hip-hop
- 2nd Place Team Contemporary
- 3rd Place Team Jazz
- 2nd Place Team Novelty
- 2nd Place Team Pom
- 2nd Place Medium Ensemble
They also had two solo finalists:
- 2nd Place Maddie Ramirez
- 6th Place Amery Ruiz
Permian HS Junior Varsity – JV Panther Paws
- 2nd Place Overall Champions in the JV Division
- 1st Place Champions Team Hip-Hop (TIE)
- 1st Place Champions Team Contemporary
- 1st Place Champions JV Small Ensemble
