Pekin Dance Team performing at state for first time

The Pekin Dance team will be performing this year for the first time ever in the history of the school at the Iowa State Dance & Drill Team Association. The Pekin Sports Boosters generously donated to cover the entry fees for the team. The girls will travel to Des Moines for this experience where they will compete on Wednesday, November 30th.

The ISDTA was founded in 1976 and has 300 schools that are members. It has 5000 plus athletes at both the high school and collegiate level that will be competing Wednesday, November 30 through Friday, Dec. 2, 2022. This event is also the largest state dance championship in the nation.

This year’s Pekin’s dance team consists of seven seniors, Kayla Bunnell, Makayla Greiner, Rainee Greiner, Tayler McCreedy, Emma Phillips, Sabrina Reneker, Sadie Sieren; and two sophomores, Ayla Banes and Emma Hopper.

The girls will be performing a pom routine and Tayler and Ayla will be performing solo routines. Tayler will perform at 9:05 a.m. at the Hy-Vee Hall and Ayla will be directly after at 9:09 a.m. The team will be performing in Class IV at 3:45 p.m. at the Wells Fargo Arena for their pom routine. All awards will start at 8:30 p.m. that evening. The girls are eligible for a team academic award.

Shari Temple choreographed their pom routine and has volunteered many hours to help the girls prepare. The girls are coached by Antoinette Wittrock and Shari Temple. Overall this is an exciting opportunity for these young ladies who have been working hard since this summer to prepare for this competition.