Lake Oswego High School’s dance team has been making Laker history. Through hard work and dedication, the dance team managed to not only place at nationals, but also won two events at the OSAA Dance/Drill State Championships: 6A Jazz and 6A Pom. The competition was held at the Salem Pavilion, and these wins make the senior Dancers fourth and fifth consecutive state titles won. 

Captain and senior Lauren Vance explained her gratitude toward her team and their achievements, saying, “It’s so great to see all of our hard work shine and to be rewarded for that! I am so happy that we all got to dance as a team for two last times! As a captain, I’m so proud of all the girls for putting in the work every day and putting on a show out there on the state floor.” She also added, “There were five seniors for our team that made the All state team.” These seniors are: Ellie Wise, Emilie Kilshaw, Anslee Bennett, Jane Grimm and Vance. Both Wise and Bennett were awarded scholarships for scoring in the top 5 percent of scorers.”

Furthermore, her teammate, senior Fiona Coleman, added, “I believe we hold the most state titles in LOHS history, at 14 state championships since 1981! The day couldn’t have gone better, and we couldn’t have done it without our four amazing coaches and my fellow eight spectacular captains.” Junior Addie Heyer also expressed her happiness for her team’s final dance, saying, “We all grew so close together and that definitely showed in our performances. I also felt so grateful to be apart of this team and have our coaches by our side to perform one last time.”

LO Dance also placed nationally this year. The team traveled to Orlando Florida to compete at the Dance Team Union National competition. The team placed eighth in hip hop and twelfth in jazz. Senior Anslee Bennett, explains, “We were so proud with how we did at nationals, it is the highest we have ever placed nationally in laker dance history.” Vance lauded her team as well, describing: “One thing that went really well was our team talks before going on the floor. We all were on the same page and any nerves we had were eased by the fact that we knew all of our teammates were working as hard as we were and had our back out there. We left it all out on the floor and killed it as a team. I wouldn’t have changed anything, everything went better than we ever could have dreamed of.”