Though she is involved in choir, show choir, and both marching and concert band, junior Katie Crick considers dance to be one of her main activities.
“It’s kind of like an escape from the stresses of life,” Crick said. “Because being at school, I’m just like, ‘oh my gosh’, and just stressing. Then I get to dance, which is kind of like a time to just relax and do what I love and unwind a little bit.”
Crick has been dancing since she was three years old and became involved with band and show choir later into her middle and high school years.
“I just love music,” Crick said. “You know, I love dancing to the music, I love singing the music, and I love playing the music.”
Senior Sarah Simmons has been friends with Crick since they were in middle school when Simmons began dancing at the same dance studio as Crick. Now, they both are on the dance team and are dance captains for West Connection.
“I’ve never been in that sort of environment with her,” Simmons said. “It’s kind of fun to get to know another version of her. And so it has just made us even closer.”
In each activity she participates in, Crick holds a leadership position. Both Simmons and her dance coach described her as a “positive” and “encouraging” leader to her teammates.
“Katie is a strong dancer who works extremely hard in practice and on the court,” dance coach Ellie Schiefelbein said. “Katie is one of our basketball team leaders this season and has led our team beautifully.”
Despite being in many activities and being a leader within them, Crick balances it all.
“I think it’s just really, it’s amazing because she does all of her activities and she also maintains good grades,” Simmons said. “She still manages to have a social life too. It’s honestly astounding.”
Schiefelbein said Crick’s hard work created visual changes.
“One huge improvement Katie has made is in her confidence as a dancer and leader,” Schiefelbein said. “She strives to do better and work hard to not only help herself but her teammates as well.”
Crick is an All-American dance athlete and has competed with the dance team since she was a freshman. The dance team attended nationals in Orlando, Florida and placed 9th out of 14 teams in their division which, according to Schiefelbein, is great for the first time competing nationally.
“People severely underestimate the amount of athleticism that dance takes,” Simmons said. “Katie has been doing it for a very long time, but she’s also very good at it. As an athlete, I think she kind of deserves more attention than she gets for it. I feel like people don’t give her enough credit or accolades for all the work that she puts into everything.”
An initial version of this story mistakenly identified Katie Crick as a senior. She is a junior. The Thunderbeat regrets the error.
