Tatum Shirley is an 11th grade varsity dancer who has a passion for preforming. In a normal dance competition thousands of people come to watch each school go head to head. The dance team took 8th out of twenty-two this year at state with a hip-hop piece.
The girls go through daily conditioning, stretching and preparation for their upcoming halftime performances. Fossil Ridge only has a varsity dance team that competes at football games in the fall and basketball games in the winter. The team consists of fourteen girls who have become a tight nit group of dancers. Tatum says that the best part about being part of the team is that they are a family. The team is close and caring.
Hoping to become a collegiate dancer in the near future. Tatum hopes to get a scholarship to perform for a college in California. She loves to write and do hair and makeup. She loves the way that hair and makeup make people feel beautiful and strong. She dreams of becoming a dance teacher and moving to California after high school.
She says the hardest part about dance is “making the hard moves look easy.” The schools team preforms with a lot of hip-hop routines and preformed this year with a 90’s tribute mashup. The team has an offseason that stretches from the end of basketball season in March until August when football season starts up again. During these practices the team warms up, stretches and then they learn a new routine every week to keep up on their ability to learn new routines quickly. Tatum loves dancing with her team. She loves the coach and how helpful she is, and the way the team comes together to compete.
