Victoria York estimates the Avon Black and Gold Dance Team started in the early 2000s. She was on the team during her senior year at Avon High School in 2010 and recalls that although they were starting to improve, she wouldn’t call the team competitive.
That’s all changed in the past several years.
York owns Tenacity Dance Company in Avon. She was called in to help with choreography and began coaching the team in 2019.
“My first year we had a team of 22, and I was thinking, ‘We can’t be competitive with this many people on the team,’” York said. “It was still, if you tried out you made the team.”
The dance team, by definition, includes dancers who are technically trained. York said they often belong to local dance studios, and when they’re not doing dance team competitions, they’re participating in studio competitions.
“We participate in home football games and you might see a more fun or casual dance there, but these girls are training five days a week,” York said. “There’s isn’t an off season.”
More and more, colleges and recruiters are seeing the value of dance teams. Scholarships are being offered and the dancers can see a future using their skill.
“There’s a convention circuit for high school dancers wanting to dance in college,” York said. “We usually go to one of those for information. A lot of the big schools are recognizing it as a sport, and some aren’t quite there yet but there have been a lot of developments.”
The pandemic put a hold on everything in 2020, but in 2021, after a shaky year of winning some and losing some, the large ensemble (a group of seven dancers) won the state competition.
In 2022 they came back in full force, went undefeated the entire year, and won state again.
Along the way, York was trimming the team, first from 22 to 16, and then down to 14 dancers last year. It was becoming more difficult to join and more competitive on the dance floor.
Unfortunately, 2023 delivered an unexpected blow.
“Last year was rocky,” York said. “I got very sick and was in and out of the hospital. I was Zooming in for rehearsals, we hadn’t won a competition all year, and the night before we left for state, I got out of the hospital, held an impromptu rehearsal and changed their entire dance. I think in two days we rehearsed for 18 hours.”
Despite multiple hospital stays and the team feeling defeated, York saw development in the dancers in other ways.
“The seniors on the team really stepped up and took on a leadership role,” she said. “They were great at making the team feel like a team and everyone had a voice. They all stepped up and we won state in 2023 despite all that was going on.”
This past year brought even more developments for the dance team, but this time on a positive note. Fourteen high school students with seven in the large ensemble went undefeated and won state again.
Then, they upped the ante with a new competition.
“We decided to go to nationals in Orlando,” York said. “Nationals helps prepare the girls for college dance teams. They start to gain recognition and the large ensemble doesn’t compete. It’s the entire team competing so it really rebuilds our confidence as a whole team.”
They brought home third place at nationals and plan to return in future years, giving dancers more opportunity and experience.
York also changed the responsibilities of the alternate on the team, further encouraging each dancer to give it their all.
“I created a fluid alternate position,” York said. “When you make the team, you never know if you’ll be competing regularly on the team or as an alternate, but I had a year where a dancer was an alternate and was working harder than another dancer on the team. If you work harder, you get to go in.”
One might think the competitive nature of the team would lead to friction, but York said the bond between the dancers and the students and staff grows stronger every year.
“We’re all so close,” she said. “I look at them like my own kids. If one of them needs something, I would drop what I was doing to get there. The connection they have with each other is unbelievable. They’re together constantly, holding each other accountable and pushing each other to higher standards. They know we’re not only representing dance, but representing Avon too.”
As head coach, York said it’s rewarding to watch their growth and development from freshman year to senior year. York has seen shy and timid ninth-graders become confident seniors, proud of being a part of something they feel is incredibly special.
“They know we don’t do drama,” York said. “We keep our grades up, and we stay focused because I want to prepare them for the real world after they graduate. It’s not only dancing; it’s leadership, work ethic, accountability, and really growing into adults.”
The 2024-2025 team has already been selected. They’ve auditioned, participated in a three-day camp over the summer, and have begun preparing for competitions this winter.
They’ve starting performing at home football games this month, and after fall break, things get more intense with choreography, solo and ensemble teams, and official competitions in December.
“We do one to two competitions per month from December to February,” York said. “Toward the end of February we have the state competition, but throughout that time, if you’re a dancer on the team and in the large ensemble, you’re practicing 30 hours per week to prepare.”
She’s excited about the team’s direction, and said even with the changes over the past several years, the dancers are thriving.
“I tell them they’re like popcorn; everyone pops at a different time,” she said. “You can’t compare yourself to the person standing next to you. I’m excited to see what they’ll do this year. We have some really strong dancers and the next few years should be great. It’s a fun experience, but the culture and the expectation and working together makes this really special.”
