CLEVELAND MIDDLE SCHOOL Dance team performed at the Auburn University vs. Utah State football game. Varsity Competition CMS Dance Team’s members are Blaire Brooks, Emma Waddel, Chloe Baggett, Jessica Davis, Breanna Long, Taylar Hooker, Madeline Hoops, Adria Smith, Tmesha Pitner, Gabrielle Thornton, Joeli Poole, Kim Buckner, Josy McCluskey, Taylor Allison, Ashley Hamilton, Ashley Mays and Tehya Dyer. The Junior Varsity CMS Competition Dance Team is Julia Holt Ledford, Courtney Hamilton, Cassie Jones, Maya Sharma, Emma Brusky, Kiara Brewer, Makya Davis, Mallory Gumm, Anna Craig, Teya Kelsey, Riley Calandrino, Madison Eshenbrenner, Elizabeth Owens, Sarah Emily Sentell and Jessica Johnson.
The 2011-12 CMS Dance Team is made up of 32 talented and dedicated sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-grade dancers who practice five to six days a week, perform at CMS football and basketball games and school assemblies, and compete.
In addition to their school responsibilities, they are very active in the community. The 2011-12 dance team has performed a ballet dance in the MainStreet Cruise-In Memorial Day weekend car show and performed a competitive pom routine at the 2011 Cleveland City Schools’ systemwide in-service welcoming Dr. Martin Ringstaff to Cleveland. Recently, the team performed band dances and a hip-hop routine to help fund-raise for the local chapter of The Girls on the Run. At this event, the girls learned Zumba routines and got the opportunity to dance these routines with CMS teachers Lindsey Sluder and Alice Lockerman.
“The Varsity dancers this year are so very dedicated and so very talented. Their strength is that they work together this year tremendously well. They show so much respect for each other and dance as one unit,” CMS Dance Team head coach Kelly Ann Owens said. “They cannot wait to show off their new pom, hip-hop, and jazz competitive routines. This year we have even added step to our repertoire and a character dance to ‘The Wizard of Oz.’ The junior varsity team is super talented and will compete in pom and hip hop. Their excitement and enthusiasm is contagious, and I feel they can take on any team in competition and win!”
On Oct. 1, the CMS Dance Team will be performing their game and competitive routines at the Fifth Annual 100 Black Men Health Fair. On the same day, the talented young dancers will travel to the Nillie Bipper Craft Fair and show off their tremendous talents. The following weekend on Oct. 8, the team is performing in the Lee University Old School Hip-Hop Step Show. In this show, they will be performing their hip-hop routines and a step routine taught to them recently by a group of Lee University students
The assistant coach is Tonya Cawood. Team assistants are Haleigh May and Jaymee Wilkinson, both former CMS dancers. Choreographers are Gabe Harvey of Anchorage, Alaska; James Vassell of Cleveland; Will Linder of Chattanooga; Jasmine Horn of Chattanooga and Susan Dyer of Cookeville.
