DAKOTA GOES BACK-TO-BACK AS NATIONAL CHAMPIONS
The Dakota varsity dancers are champions once again.
The Cougars, who won the Dance Team Union National Championship last year, participated in the event once again this year and went back-to-back, winning the crown two-straight years.
“This group is the kindest group to each other I’ve ever had,” said head coach Kherre Kwolek. “They break down new skills to help each other become successful, have no problem approaching a captain, coach or teammate for help or feedback, and work together always.
“This team was not cliquey and genuinely cared about the success of the group as a whole and pushed to achieve their fullest potential, whatever that may be at the moment. Each and every competition, they grew as dancers and so did their scores. In my 9 years of coaching, I have not met a more hard-working team.”
The team is made up of seniors Bianca
Ala and Bianka Cukarkov — who are the team captains — Mackenzie Corbin, Emily VerKeryn, Ariana Widmer and Gabriella Zielinski; juniors Juliana Bogojevski, Hailey Leija and Brooklynn Reygaert; sophomores Katelyn Gniatczyk and Payton Hubler and freshman Annika YeeClark.
Dakota began the season in May before capping it off with the national title this month, but the final trophy was not their only piece of hardware.
They won first in the Dance Team Union Detroit I small varsity pom competition at Rochester High School along with second in the small varsity jazz event.
They traveled to West Michigan and claimed first in both small pom and small jazz then hosted a Dance Team Union Detroit II event and took first place in both small pom and small jazz there too.
Their biggest venue event saw them take first place in the large varsity pom at Little Caesars Arena — which gave them the privilege to perform at halftime of the Detroit Pistons game that evening — and won first place in large varsity jazz.
The Cougars also went national, traveling to Orlando, where they took first in medium varsity pom and third in medium varsity jazz, though they were just half a point away from winning first there, too.
“They are the true depiction of hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard,” Kwolek said. “These girls had to master challenging skills to even make our team but pushed the limits from there to learn even more challenging skills as a group.”
Not every participant on the team was part of the 2023 national championship team, either. In fact, they lost over half the team with just six of their 14 competitors returning.
“If someone was struggling, they helped and encouraged them until they mastered it,” Kwolek said. “They truly had a vision from the beginning to always give their best and the results speak for themselves. They had no cap to their potential and gave their best all the way to the end of their final performance.”