Connect Canyons
Learning is about making connections, and we invite you to learn and connect with us. Connect Canyons is a show about what we teach in Canyons District, how we teach, and why. We get up close and personal with some of the people who make our schools great: students, teachers, principals, parents, and more. We meet national experts, too. And we spotlight the “connection makers” — personalities, programs and prospects — we find compelling and inspiring.
Connect Canyons
Episode 71: Champions On and Off the Floor
It’s no wonder the Hillcrest High School Drill Team are 28-time regional champions and seven-time state champions, with their eyes on an eighth. Two members of the coaching staff have dance, and Drill in particular, in their blood. As we learn in the latest episode of Connect Canyons, Chelsea Divine and her brother Carter Williams stared dancing almost as soon as they started walking and followed in their mother’s footsteps, “Our own mom was a member of the Hillcrest Drill team,” says Drill coach and Healthy Lifestyles Teacher, Chelsea Divine, “so the legacy runs deep in our blood.”
Carter Williams, Hillcrest Drill Coach and member of the Weber State Dance Team, says it was his sister, Chelsea, who helped him see dance could take him beyond high school. “Chelsea kind of paved the way for all of us siblings to know dance is actually a possibility,” says Carter, “because after high school Chelsea proceeded to be a part of the professional dance company, Odyssey. I feel like it just really showed my other sister and I that it’s possible to dance after high school.”
Carter says the hours he danced all paid off as he joined the competitors on Season 17, making it to the top six of ‘So You Think You Can Dance’. Not to mention, he is a two-time National Latin Champion and four-time World Latin Finalist in ballroom dance.
Chelsea and Carter won’t toot their own horns about their accomplishments, but they are more than happy to brag about the accomplishments of the young women competing on Hillcrest Drill.
Welcome to Connect Canyons, a podcast sponsored by Canyons School District. This is a show about what we teach, how we teach and why we get up close and personal with some of the people who make our schools great Students, teachers, principals, parents and more. We meet national experts too. Learning is about making connections, so connect with us.
Speaker 2:Welcome. This is Connect Canyons, and we're here to talk about all of the issues that we face here in Canyons School District and some of the fun things that our students are involved in, and also some stuff that they do that actually looks very difficult, requires a lot of skill, a lot of artistry and, of course, it gets a lot of applause. We're talking about drill, and I'm here today with Hillcrest High Coaches, carter and Chelsea. I'm Jeff Haney and I will be your host today for Connect Canyons, and so let's talk for a second Now. Carter and Chelsea. Welcome, carter.
Speaker 3:Hi, thank you so much for having us, and.
Speaker 2:Chelsea good morning.
Speaker 4:Good morning. We're so excited to be here.
Speaker 2:So I asked you two to come in and talk to me about drill because there is, I think, this misunderstanding about what the drill team is all about. I think a lot of people really enjoy watching the performances and they may see the fantastic half-time shows, totally that the drill teams put on at all the games, but they may not know all of the work that goes behind, not just those performances, but for your competition season.
Speaker 2:So I'm wondering for the unfamiliar Chelsea could you tell us in just a few seconds what is drill all about?
Speaker 4:Drill team is the most incredible sport. It's a year-long activity that the girls do and it is competitive and a lot of time and energy and effort goes on behind the scenes to make it all happen.
Speaker 2:Now Carter answer the same question.
Speaker 3:I would define drill the most passionate form of dance. These girls not only wake up so early every day to come to practice, but they are just the most passionate group of girls that are representing themselves, representing the girls that came before them and representing the girls in the future, and so I would just say that drill is the most passionate form of dance.
Speaker 2:It really is they seem so invested in how well they do. Now I look at your drill team in particular, and it has a long-standing tradition of excellence.
Speaker 3:Absolutely.
Speaker 2:So tell us this how experienced are your dancers? Have they had years and years and years of training?
Speaker 4:We have a wide range of experience on our team. We have lots of dancers that have grown up in studio and we have some that maybe haven't had as much studio experience, but they have the work ethic to back up the work required to be successful.
Speaker 3:I also feel like you mentioned how our program has this long-lasting, almost like Legacy Legacy, and I feel like In our community there's little girls that have looked at the Hillcrest show team and were like mom, I want to be doing that one day, or mom, I want to be on that team one day, and I think that is already drives the passion within our program. Whether that those girls that were Eight years old, who are now 14, coming into our school, whether or not they have danced or not, the passion behind of I want to be them one day. I want to be those type of girls that are dancing at the football games in that state, like being that, that person that wants to do that.
Speaker 2:I think that really is what helps catapult our team tell if you would please what it entails to be a member of Hillcrest. Oh, how much do you practice?
Speaker 4:Well, we are limited to 20 hours a week, but we do wake up every day at 5 am, we start practices at 5, 55 with count off, and the girls are there ready to go.
Speaker 2:So you're telling me you have a group of teenage girls Ready to go before 6 am, every single.
Speaker 3:Yes, all day yes.
Speaker 2:How do you make that happen?
Speaker 3:Something that we do within our team is we have a thing called sisters, and so at the beginning of the year they get paired with another Veteran and they become sisters, and so they just those sisters was be there to back each other up and 530, if you get a coffee morning yeah.
Speaker 3:You get a coffee your sister and you're enough like your sister might be driving your house and knocking on your door because you got to Be at drill f55, and so I just feel like that's another way to like help build the unity, because not only are they waking up at 5 30, like that's a hard task, but the drive to show up at 5 55 is there and they're willing to do it.
Speaker 4:Right. Well, and that's what I love so much about drill team is it's not a singular sport, it really is a team sport and it teaches these girls the importance of accountability. And it's not about you, it's about showing up and being ready and being your best for the team totally.
Speaker 2:How do you choreograph all of those dances? Do you have girls on the team? Do that? Do you hire a choreographer? Because if you've ever seen kind of the top tier Drill teams in the state perform they're, they're very complex dances and requires quite a bit of skill. And hill crust, you know, is one of the top five according to last year's rankings at state. And so how do you come up with all those dances?
Speaker 4:Well, fortunately for us, Carter and I are siblings and we have grown up dancing together our entire lives, and we've been choreographing and doing all of that literally since the very beginning of time.
Speaker 2:Well, tell us a little bit about that. What is your experience in background and dance?
Speaker 4:Both of us grew up dancing from the age of three, and I was a member of the Hillcrestral team. Our own mom was a member of the Hillcrestral team, and so the legacy runs deep in our blood and it just is part of what we do. And, as you know, carter is the professional of the world.
Speaker 3:Well, I think it's so special with me and Chelsea because, yes, we do have this legacy with our mom being on the upper member of the Hillcrestral team and then Chelsea was a member and Chelsea kind of paved the way for I feel like all of us siblings would be like wow, like dance is actually a possibility. Because Chelsea then after high school proceeded to be on a professional company called Odyssey and I feel like it just really showed my other sister and I that it's possible to dance after high school. And so then after that, in all of high school I was such a studio rat, like I love studio. I went to every convention you can name. I was dancing every weekend. I actually got a release period from school so I could go to dance earlier, like I was dead dedicated.
Speaker 3:But yeah, it all paid off because recently, last summer, I was on so you Think you Can Dance season 17. I made the top six and I'm also a ballroom dancer and I've been I'm like a four time world finalist, I'm like a four time national champion in that, and so I think something that means Chelsea really have a leg up on than other coaches and just other programs is that we're just super experienced with dance, like we love to create. It's fun for us, no matter the song or the idea we can create on anything, and I think that just really helps us throughout the entire year. And with your question we do hire out. I find it harder, as so does Chelsea. I find it harder to kind of choreographing your own team when it comes to state routines, because those routines are a little bit more puzzle pieces and when you're trying to figure out a big puzzle, you, you, it's kind of just it's mentally moving those pieces.
Speaker 4:It's more challenging when it's your own team, exactly.
Speaker 3:So we do hire out, and this year we hired out in our military and our dance and I actually did our show alongside this other male dancer, aiden Hammer. I just think of something that means Chelsea just are able to do is to have hire out these carifers. But then throughout the year we change, we develop, we create even more, we expand on the ideas, and that's something that you kind of have to have an eye for to be a top competitor in this in the sport.
Speaker 2:Now, it's not just that they go out and perform and dance. There's categories in which they dance, correct. So what I think a lot of drill is known for is military, which is kind of a precision style of dance.
Speaker 4:Yes, but then there are other categories right, right, yes.
Speaker 4:I just love the military category.
Speaker 4:It is so unique to Utah teams and I think anytime that we attend a nationals event it's very clear that Utah is the top when it comes to military and it really is what drill team is all about.
Speaker 4:That's where drill team began, with the inspiration of military and that precision and that uniformity, and it's just incredible to see where the drill world has taken the category of military. The athleticism required, the technique required, the passion required it's second to none. We also get the opportunity to compete dance routine, and dance routine is typically a jazz or lyrical styled routine that is very technical as far as turns, leaps, jumps, lines and the tumbling skills that these girls can do these days as well is really incredible. And then our third category is a category that has evolved. So each year, kind of based on judges' feedback in the UHSAA committee, a third category is selected and right now that category is called show, and our show category is a combination of hip hop and character styles and together we are able to create this really fun, amazing routines where these girls can take on a completely new character and still showcase their incredible dancing ability and it's just really fun for them to get to experience lots of different styles.
Speaker 2:And how do you pick the music? Is that one of the hardest things you have to do? I mean, we live for that no.
Speaker 3:You give us after state, march, april, like we are grinding, grinding, grinding, trying to find the newest songs, trying to find the upcoming trends, like you name it. We are grinding and we're adding songs. In June, July, we have a mix and all of a sudden we're like no, we love that song, we need to add it in. But truly it's just. The fun part when it comes to drill for me is the creating aspect of it and the show category. I especially love it because I feel like it's very similar to the hip hop category when you go collegiately. But then also I feel like that's the time when the student body and the non-dancers in the room can really connect to the team.
Speaker 3:Because, not everyone will understand military with the intense faces. Not everyone will understand an emotional dancer team, but everyone will understand a freaking, awesome, hard hitting hip hop that you can just go off in and so that is something I just love that we've added is the show category, because it just really highlights the girl's style and really just brings the whole entire school together. So what's?
Speaker 2:the process to pick the costumes, Because they really are quite elaborate and if you've ever been to a drill competition then you know that everybody looks different. And so you've got every team from nearly every high school in the state then dancing to different music, doing different types of dances and looking very different. So, how do you go about either designing or picking the costumes?
Speaker 4:Well, one thing is for sure we love rhinestones.
Speaker 3:Yes.
Speaker 4:So if it's got rhinestones on it, we're happy.
Speaker 3:I know I like Timor.
Speaker 4:Yeah, but no. Every year we like to find inspiration, whether it's the music for the show theme or dance routine. If we're going more lyrical, we find inspiration from the concept and the vision first, and then we work together to kind of find what we feel is gonna flatter our girls best and highlight them best and what's gonna look best on the floor. That's something that is also really important. You know, when we compete at state, we're in this large arena down at UVU and we want those costumes to pop and to really highlight the girls and all the hard work they've put in.
Speaker 2:When you go to a competition, they're dancing, so how do they get scored? It's not like going to another athletic competition where the top score wins in terms of baskets or touchdowns Totally. So how is it that somebody comes out on top? How do they get scored?
Speaker 4:So the drill team scoring system is actually quite intense. We are using a new scoring system this year called caption scoring, and this has been a great idea and I think that the UHSA has been working on for some time, but part of our score. First I'll explain difficulty. So there is a difficulty rubric for each state category. The difficulty rubric accounts for 20 points of your total score. That is applied to all six routine judges. On the difficulty rubric there is a list of skills that a team must execute in order to get full points. Depending on the category, there might be 14 or 15 of those boxes that must be checked in order to get the full 20. If a team does not check all of those boxes, then they will find themselves maybe at a 19 or an 18. And again, that score is applied to all six routine judges. So first you gotta make sure you have all your difficulty. Second, you go into your caption scoring, the caption scoring.
Speaker 4:This year we have a few different categories. There is execution. So execution is how well the girls are executing the choreography given to them, how well they are executing the skills, the technical skills, and there are two routine judges that score the team on execution. There are then two judges that score the team on choreography. So you have two judges.
Speaker 4:Their main job is to observe and evaluate the choreography given to the dancers. So that might look like staging how the formations move, how things flow from one thing to the next. Are you transitioning with movement or are you just walking? And so the choreography and the creativity is really taken into consideration. And then the last two judges are the overall effect judges. Their purpose is to evaluate the showmanship, the esprit de corps, the presentation of the routine, the costuming, the makeup, the hair, every detail that goes into that routine. How did it affect the performance and how did it then, in turn, connect with the audience? So, yeah, we have all those judges. And then, lastly, we do have our technical judges that are always looking for safety and just making sure that we are having the dancers do things that are safe and appropriate for a drill team.
Speaker 2:That sounds very complicated. How long does it take, then, to perfect a routine If they're going to be scrutinized according to all of that? I imagine it's not just something you can throw together in a couple of weeks.
Speaker 3:No, no, I mean that's why we are working so hard at 6 am, starting April, and we usually learn our state routines by June or July and from then on we are trying to balance the act of football and also football season as well as state. But yeah, these girls have to put hours upon hours, upon hours just to perfect the count of eight, even because of these routines being so complex and being so difficult. But really that's where you see the growth and that's where you see the girls shine the most and I think that's where it is really just so inspiring to see them grow and develop from freshman to seniors.
Speaker 2:Drill does have a very specific aesthetic, as we've said. You know, the way they walk onto the floor. There's a lot of expressive faces.
Speaker 3:Yes.
Speaker 2:Do you get a lot of questions about why your teams do that.
Speaker 4:I mean, I think some people are probably a little bit.
Speaker 4:Maybe maybe they don't quite understand it, but I think that is what draws Carter and I into it so much and why, as coaches, we're so passionate about it. Because we're bringing together these girls from all different walks of life, from all different experiences, from all from different talent levels and we're really teaching them the importance of teamwork and the importance of unity and working together to form a cohesive picture. Like I said earlier, this isn't an individual sport, this is a team sport and we have to dance as one out there on the floor. And so seeing them work together to find their confidence and to match facials and to match their movements and maybe what's most comfortable for Carter isn't necessarily what's going to be best for all and so as dancers, as coaches, we have to work together to find what's going to be best for HD, and that's again why we say the HD way. Like it might be easier to do it one way, but we're going to do it this way because we all will succeed this way.
Speaker 2:What do? You think drill brings to a school community.
Speaker 3:I mean, I feel like for our school it brings our community together, with Hillcrest Drill being so successful. I feel like it really shows just like you can. If you work hard at something and if you put your mind to something, you can and will achieve it if there is that hard work and perseverance. But I feel like, especially within our school, like with it there are being so many different walks of life coming in and out, and like different curls from generations upon generations.
Speaker 3:I just feel like it really ties our whole entire community together and is almost like the root of what Hillcrest is.
Speaker 4:Yeah, and I think drill team in general in any school it really can help to build the spirit among students and the spirit among the community. And along with our chair team we really act as a spirit squad Totally and just creating that energy at games at football games, at basketball games and just really rallying our community to come together and to believe and have hope.
Speaker 2:What would you tell a young girl, maybe 12 years old? Who is looking at your team thinking, Gail, I want to do that someday.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 2:What would you tell her to do right now to prepare for that?
Speaker 4:I think that we would encourage her to start preparing her technique, making sure she's stretching every day and attending a dance class or working on her turns, and I think, too, just telling her that she absolutely can and that we believe in her. And even when we have our mini clinics, we're bringing in girls as young as three sometimes, and seeing those cute girls out there performing with our team during football season it's just so inspiring to me and reminds me that this is why I do what I do, not just for the trophy at the end of the season, but really to create just a lifelong passion for dance and to create girls that believe in themselves and that want to be part of something bigger is just, yeah, why we do it.
Speaker 2:So what do you hope for for the girls on your team this year?
Speaker 3:I mean we are in a new division in 4A.
Speaker 3:I think we are hoping for a state championship team this year.
Speaker 3:I mean we have all the tools for it, we have the talent, we have the costuming, we have the choreography, we have the music, we have the work ethic, we have the unity. Like if all the pieces of the puzzle come together, I really believe that Hellcrest could land on top. But really, I just really want for them this season is just to really love it, because you only get this season once and this team once and these coaches once. And I just want all my girls this year just to really soak in every moment they have on the floor, whether that's from the moment they walk off or taking one extra second after they finish their routine, and just knowing I did that and I did it with these girls and I did it for this legacy. I really like that trumps all. Whether we get that first place trophy at the end or we get not even to state finals which hopefully that doesn't happen, but whether it may be, I just hope my girls just have the best experience on and off the floor.
Speaker 4:Yeah, and I think too, like our team motto is champions on and off the floor, and truly we want these girls to not only become champions in our sport but become champions in their own life. We want them to see their accomplishments and see all the hard work and dedication that they put forth and know that the work was worth it, and not only for this team this season, but in their lives they're going to be able to become successful, strong women, no matter what path they take, and I just want all of them to really know and believe in themselves and know that they can take on anything.
Speaker 2:Chelsea Carter, thank you so much for coming in and talking to us today and break a leg to the Hill Crestrow.
Speaker 3:Thank you so much, Alias.
