LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — You can now call the dance team at Basic Academy in Henderson national champions. The girls clinched a national trophy in February at the National Dance Association National Championship in Orlando, Florida.
Tricia Kean recently visited Basic Academy to meet with and watch these newly-named national champs perform.
You wouldn't know it by watching the Basic Academy dance team that they started the school year with only three returning members. So longtime head coach China Hendry knew it was a year of rebuilding.
"But we are the type of team where that doesn't stop us. We are like, OK so it's a rebuilding year, so what do we have to do to win anyway," Hendry said.
So the dancers got to work with extra training, five days a week, watching videos and forming an unbreakable bond.
"For me, this program is so just special," said dance team senior captain Jordan Owen. "Like, it goes so much more than about dancing. The people around you are my absolute favorite people."
"These are some of the most people I have ever met. China's wonderful, the team is wonderful. It's just a great program," said dance team junior captain Alyson Orque.
"To do something so vigorously with everyone, it creates a special bond," said freshman captain Avery James. "It take so much physically and mentally, and having people to do that with is such an amazing thing."
It was amazing for Basic to compete against the best schools in the country. The Wolf Pack has placed in the Top 5 in the past five years in nationals, but this year, Basic Academy clinched the national championship in the category of Small Varsity Game Day.
"It's your chance to showcase, like, everything that makes your school great, and so for Basic, it's start with your fight song, so you use your fight song so we got to literally bring Basic to Florida, which was awesome," Hendry said.
The dancers said it was awesome the moment they realized they had won.
Watch the team celebrate their win.
"We are just screaming at the top of our lungs," Orque said. "We were just hugging each other. It was so unreal. I remember when we ran out, we hugged other teams. We hugged Coronado and their JV; they were so excited for us. It wasn't just us but all the Vegas teams winning."
The Wolf Pack has their first national hardware and jackets to prove it. Their quest for championship success is a new standard for years to come.
While some of these young ladies won't pursue dance in the future, Hendry said this national award represents so much more to these young ladies.
"It's taught them how to do hard things. It's taught them how to accept, you know, disappointment. It's taught them how to push through things that might seem impossible," Hendry said.
What's even more amazing about this dance team is a good portion of these girls didn't start dance until they were a little older, so a huge congratulations to coach China Hendry and the dance team at Basic.
