EVANS, Ga. () – Two High School Dance teams in Columbia County are preparing to compete in the state championship this weekend.

Lakeside and Greenbrier competed in Sectionals to qualify for the GHSA State Dance Championship in Athens.  

“With our size, we have a presence on the court, and I definitely think like our difficulty level and our skill. I think maybe that’s what got us our bid to State,” said Cristina Mallon, Dance Coach at Greenbrier High School.

This is the first year schools had to qualify for the State Championship. Previously, in order to qualify, the team would have to attend a certain number of competitions.  Both schools qualified to compete, with only 16 spots in their category.

Lakeside High School has been to State four times, but this is the first time they had to qualify, and they are taking their highest-scored dance, which is their hip-hop routine, to the state competition.

“Typically, the girl really enjoys performing hip hop better than Pom. Pom is more traditional with the pom poms and hip hop. They get to kind of let loose and have a little bit of fun,” said Hannah Warren, Dance Coach, Lakeside High School Dance Team.

Greenbrier High School has had their dance team for three years.  In the first year, they did not compete, but they started competing last year. This is their first year competing in sectionals and State. They also qualified with their hip-hop routine. 

“We needed to get acclimated to what the GHSA expectations were. We wanted our girls to get acclimated since we’ve never had a dance team before, and we really wanted them to home in their skill to take something great to state,” said Mallon.

Dancers from both schools are excited about the new challenges the state competition will bring to the team and are looking forward to performing.

“I think the change from being in front of the student’s section to being in front of the judges will be different,” said Cooper Young, Dance Captain at Greenbrier High School.

“I definitely think we have a lot of fun when we perform this dance. It just has really good energy, and we all really enjoy doing it, and I think that really translates on the floor,” said Kylie Bauer, Senior Dancer at Lakeside High School.

Although both schools are against each other, the dancers are excited to experience the competition with people from their area.

“It will be just a friendly competition. I think most of us here on the dance team and on Lakeside’s probably just do this because we really love to dance,” said Kamora Tomlinson, Dance Captain at Greenbrier High School.

“At the end of the day, we’re all friends, so it’s just fun to be able to do this with each other from different schools,” said Livvy Smith, Freshman Dancer at Lakeside High School.