Home » Visual & Performing Arts » Dance/Drill Team » Drill Team Goes to Camp

Drill Team Goes to Camp

© Kathryn Morton

It's mid-July, and if they haven't already done so, most drill teams will be having their summer line camps, intense workshops ranging from a couple of days to more than a week. Here, the team will learn their field and pep rally dances for football season, possibly stand and parade routines. Many camps also provide opportunities for campers to audition for All-American or All-Star (the name varies) teams, which provide performance opportunities to such places as Hawaii, Europe, and major football bowls.

This is perhaps the most stressful time of the year - there are new members, new officers, new eight-counts to learn, perhaps even new shoes to break in. Each dancer must maintain concentration for hours at a time, lest she miss a camp instructor's direction. At least when 4 o'clock rolls around, you can go home and lather yourself in Ben Gay. WRONG! At least if you're at an away camp.

During a private "home camp," instructors from a drill team school such as ADTS, Starmakers, or Marching Auxilaries travel the team's school to teach routines, critique the dancers' progress, and present camp awards. The pressure is on, but the competition is against each member's personal best.

At an away camp, usually held at a college or university campus, you practice, eat, and sleep - in that order. Camp lasts approximately one week, and while there, you "dance till you drop." Now the team is not only learning routines, but practicing for an end-of-camp show-off/evaluation in which they perform one or more of the dances they learned there. The class schedule is also more rigid - the session cannot stop for one person who does not understand a particular move. The instructors have other teams to teach and time is limited. New members struggle to catch onto the team style. Everyone is sore and bruised and hot. You practice until curfew, wait in lines for a shower, and tumble into bed, hair still wet. Your alarm rings no sooner than you finally find a sleeping position that isn't painful. There are tryouts for kick teams and specialty groups here as well, but at an away camp, the process is longer and filled with unfamiliar faces. And on evaluation day, every team member is petrified, especially those new to the team. There are judges watching, and the entire audience comprises other drill teams - girls who can spot the small mistakes.

The copyright of the article Drill Team Goes to Camp in Dance/Drill Team is owned by . Permission to republish Drill Team Goes to Camp in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.