Last week was a big one for our dance team.

Throughout the course of the week, the dance team had two huge parts of their season: senior night and the state competition.

Senior night was held in the Bullitt East gym before a boys basketball game on Thursday Feb. 16. On Saturday, Feb. 18, they competed in the state competition in Frankfort. The seniors have completed their dancing careers at East.

The girls had their senior night along with many other sports programs such as boys basketball, cheer, and swim. This is a little different than some other senior nights because they got to share it with several other athletes at BE. Overall, the seniors enjoyed being able to be with the other teams. “I loved being able to be with the other teams, we all worked hard getting through these four years of high school and worked hard within our teams. We all deserved that night and doing it all together only made it better,” said senior Lexi Hutchinson.

Another senior dancer, Brae Fredericks, also enjoyed being able to have such a special senior night and unite as a school to show that every team is important. “My senior night was great, just a little emotional. Everyone broke out in tears at the end because it was the last time I’d ever perform at a game for Bullitt East,” said Fredericks.

The weekend following their emotional senior night was a very important competition. It was against everyone in the state who placed first in any category in regionals. In regionals, Fern Creek High School defeated East in a division, but in state they competed against each other and East came out on top in the medium hip-hop and medium pom divisions. Overall, the dancers finished fifth in both of those divisions.

“The best the team did at competitions this year was probably pushing each other to do better and getting pepped up before we went on stage. Before we go on, we always say a prayer together as a team making it more of our good luck charm. We wanted to build the confidence of each team member so that we all know that we are capable of doing amazing,” said Hutchinson.

As this season came to an end, the seniors made the best of it. Any athlete understands the pressure of senior year and how they want to make it the best one yet. This last week for these dancers was their chance to make the best of the time that they had left in their season. “Senior night was wonderful. Being able to perform with my team one last time, on top of being able to walk out on the court for the last time before I graduate, it’s something that no one will understand until it’s their turn to do it,” said Hutchinson.

When it is all said and done, these senior dancers will miss their teammates the most and being able to go out on the court and perform with their team. The adrenaline and excitement of performing drove them to strive to achieve their goals for this season.

They don’t have any regrets for this season or things that they would change. As with any team, some seniors feel they maybe could have worked harder and better prepared themselves, but everyone put forth the best effort that they could in order to make great things happen. “I wouldn’t ask for anything more than everyone’s best,” said Hutchinson.

“The last competition was sort of a let down for the team because we all knew we could have done a lot better than we placed, but I’m still proud of my team and what it has become. When I started my sophomore year, there were only six girls on the team, including me, and we’ve grown so much and gotten so much better it’s amazing really. I’m thankful for my team and all the memories I share with them, I’m so lucky to be apart of something such as dance,” said Fredericks.

“I couldn’t be more proud of the team we’ve grown to be,” said Hutchinson. It is hard to find a team that always has each other’s backs through thick and thin and this team has it.