We All Have A Dream

Dancers sweat and the smell of hairspray was all that we were breathing that day mixed in with glitter. There was no escaping without coughing glitter. After all the dancers were in the gym at Milwaukee High School they started with the national anthem. They introduced the judges sitting in the crowsnest up above the set of bleachers. Pendleton had 5 teams competing that cold Saturday afternoon.

The first team was the mini’s. The group was called “My Boyfriends Back”. They were so cute. The next team was a group called “Surf Crazy”. Then came “Topsy Turvy” and “Rock-n-roll mix”.Then finally my team “I Have a Dream”. Our dance is a tribute to Martin Luther King Jr.  It features "Sweet Dreams" by the Eurythmics and parts of Martin Luther King Jr's famous speech "I Have a Dream".

I feel that the jitters were contagious that day. Everyone was in a good mood after the performance.  We sat patiently in the bleachers while other teams performed.  After they got through the rest of the teams they had a drill down. In a drill down they call a series of commands like right face, left face, about face, half right, half left faces, parade rest, hand salute,  attention or atten hut, double arm dress, dress right or left, ready front, mark time March and ect. This is commonly used in the military to call on drill teams. After all of the groups had gone through drill down they had all of the kids come sit in a circle behind the hosting team. The head coach Ryan Sanford and assistant coach Johnathan Maulding announced "My Boyfriend's Back" had won 2nd place. That was the team my little sister was on.

They got to the Junior Large Category and announced all of the superstar awards. “From I Have a Dream, Ashlyn Roberts” Ryan announced. At first I looked in a daze and then I stood up and got my award. The icing on the cake was when we won first place overall in our division. What I had learned is that if you invest time into your team your team will support you and be a mini family. I just want to say congrats I have a dream in your win and I love all of you on our team you are like a family to me!