Tyrone dancers balance school and practice, competitions

By Karah Postreich

Many students at TAHS participate in extracurricular with the school, but what about the students who don’t play football, basketball, or tennis? Many female students at Tyrone share the love of dance.

School sports have practices and games after school that doesn’t conflict with their studies. Sometimes dancers have immediate practices during school before a big performance or competition. Also competitions cut into school time when they are out of town or even state.

How much time do dancers put into their sport?

Tifani Sprankle, junior a dancer at Dance Fusion (DF), attends fourteen classes a week, this adding up to fifteen hours and fifteen minutes in four days. Her styles include modern, lyrical, hip hop, ballet, jazz, and production.

Sprankle said, “Jazz, [is my favorite style] because it is fun and upbeat just like my personality.”

She enjoys the many different styles of dance offered at DF and the competition team members. Sprankle has been dancing for thirteen years and also teaches lower level tap, ballet, and jazz classes.

She maintains a well balance between school and dance by making sure her school work is completed before dance, and receiving help when necessary.

Caitlin Williams, sophomore a dancer at Andrea’s school of dance/Main Street, attends thirteen classes in four days for a total of thirteen hours. The classes she takes are ballet, tap, lyrical, jazz, modern, hip hop, production, and pointe.

Williams likes that they have a good, fun time in class but dislikes that they don’t listen or dance to “hip” music.

She has been dancing for twelve years and assists in helping younger students in ballet and tap.

“Maintaining dance and school is difficult,” Williams said, “but all the hard work pays off in the end.” She notes that she tries her hardest to get her schoolwork done before or in between dance classes.