“Small but mighty” is exactly what senior dancer Lily Schneider calls this year’s dance team.

Because she has been dancing at Lakes for all 4 years, Lily has seen the ups and downs of the dance team.

“Over the past few years, the Lakes Dance Team has changed in many ways. With new coaches, we’ve grown stronger as a team and improved our skills. Even though our team is smaller now, everyone is fully committed and gives 110%, which pushes us to do our best,” Schneider said.

With the dance team changing over the past years, it has been shown that change is good. Some may think that change is a bad thing because it can lead to negative outcomes and things that aren’t exactly in someone’s favor. But change is good because more often than not, good outcomes come from it.

“I would tell my younger dancer self that change is a good thing,” Schneider said. “I’ve experienced switching studios and working with different coaches, and even though it can feel challenging at the time, it often leads to growth and new opportunities, sometimes even better than I expected.”

The Lakes dance team has definitely been put through the wringer with having small teams and not knowing who the next coach would be, but it hasn’t led them to get down on themselves. They pull themselves right out of a harsh mindset and dance their heart out. 

“[We] remind themselves that dance is what we love and that being there is our choice, allowing us to turn negativity into encouragement for improvement,” Schneider said.

This diverse team has definitely proven to Lakes that they are strong, hard workers, especially with becoming state qualifiers this year.