The Juneau-Douglas High School dance team’s pursuit of excellence never sleeps.<\/p>\n
Not even on the night before a national competition.<\/p>\n
The Crimson Bears held an impromptu night practice while at the Dance Team Union Nationals competition<\/a> last weekend. That last bit of training and preparation is one of the reasons their military march was named best in the country.<\/p>\n JDHS was awarded first place for varsity military at the event on Sunday at the Gaylord Palms Resort in Orlando, Florida.<\/p>\n “Going out of prelims we were in second place but we weren’t behind by much, it was like .22 (points),” JDHS coach Kayla Price said. “So that I think got them excited. It was right there within our grasp.”<\/p>\n “We watched the video, listened to the judges’ comments and they spent all of Saturday night (practicing). We had this little practice facility and they were in there for hours, going over everything, and working on problem areas in the routine and making sure that they had it down. And it paid off.”<\/p>\n Only four teams — JDHS, St. Michael’s (Arizona), Olathe South (Kansas) and Gallup High School (New Mexico) — of the approximately 16 advanced to Sunday’s military march competition.<\/p>\n “We were in shock,” junior Jade Araujo said. “We heard the other team (St. Michael’s) got second and there was only the first place (team) to be named. We were all holding hands really tight. And then he announces that we won and we all run up to the stage, and we were like jumping up and down and going crazy. It was the best feeling ever.”<\/p>\n