SAN MARCOS HIGH SCHOOL 2014-2015 DANCE TEAM AUDITIONS DATES: April 19 th through April 24 th in the Dance Room At SMHS, the Dance Team is run the same as the athletic program. The team members must meet the same requirements; sign pledge sheets, and follow the same eligibility standards. We believe these standards are partially responsible for the excellent Dance Team reputation on campus. The tryout procedure closely aligns with the athletic team selection. Potential team members will be judged on their knowledge of the material taught, physical ability to do the routines, flexibility, enthusiasm, attitude, cooperation, teamwork, and determination. Coaches will be involved in the selection of the teams. All questions concerning the tryout process should be directed to Amanda Clark at amanda.clark@smusd.org. Students need to come dressed appropriately for Dance Auditions. Tank top with appropriate support, shorts or jazz pants, and jazz shoes and/or bare feet. Socks are ok. Dancers may wear sweat pants for hip hop portion. Hair should be pulled back off of face. No gum and no cell phones! All Teams: SATURDAY APRIL 19 TH - 8am-Noon (Stretch, across the floor, Jazz routine taught, Hip Hop routine taught) Call Backs: Monday April 21 st - 3-5pm for Cavalier Dance Team Call Backs: Tuesday April 22 nd - 3-5pm for All Male Dance Team Call Backs: Thursday April 24 th - 3-5pm for Varsity/JV Dance Team (New material will be learned for this audition only) General Information: 1. All Dance team members must abide by the SMHS Dance Constitution. 2. All ASB and school rules must be followed: A. Members are encouraged to have an ASB sticker and must have at least a 2.0 GPA. Grades will be checked and are taken into consideration during the try out process. B. Members must have a physical exam (Athletic Clearance Book- due before start of the Fall 2014 semester). C. Members are expected to attend all home football games. Also, they must attend indoor competitions, community performances, and some home basketball games. Poor attendance will result in lowered grade and possible dismissal from the team. Competition team is a part of the dance program. If you are not a member, other means will be established to fulfill the Dance Production class requirement. D. Members are expected to enroll in the physical education or fine arts class first or second period. They must attend a Monday night practice weekly throughout the school year. Other practices will be scheduled as necessary for Fall, Winter or Spring seasons. Cavaliers practice Monday afterschool/evenings, JV and Varsity practice 2-3 times a week afterschool/evenings, All male practices 2 times a week afterschool/evenings. A 98% attendance record is required to keep your placement on the team. E. Uniforms may be loaned from the school. If you want to purchase the uniform/warm ups total payment is due at the time we order them. Payments are to be made on our online store. Students may purchase optional/personal items. If you would like the school to purchase personal uniform items it may also be done on our online store. F. Other costs- team costs include such things as coaches, props, music, recorders, choreographers, clinics, travel and food. The cost varies from year to year and team to team. Parent donations are encouraged. Students and parents need to help us raise this money in order to maintain the program. Personal fundraising may be done by the means of scrip. Profits made from individual fundraising are applied to that person s personal account. G. Members of the team must remember that they are directly representing SMHS and not themselves. While a dance team member, they must have proper conduct, attitude and attire to show class because they are a direct reflection of our school, student body and team. Excessive absences, tardies, improper conduct including internet pictures of on or off campus behavior will be considered good cause for dismissal.
H. Parent involvement is key to the success of our program. Whether you are on the Booster board or a parent volunteer, we need you! Please contact smhsdanceteam@gmail.com if you are interested. I. Our dance team program offers a variety of ways to be involved, whether it be performances, pep assemblies, competitions, and showcases. As coaches, we do our best to provide the widest variety of choreography and training. However, we simply do not have the luxury of time to be able to do technique everyday on a consistent basis. It is our highest recommendation that you seek outside training (studio classes, rec classes, gym classes, etc) to improve your dance skills. If you would like suggestions on this, please see Amanda. J. Because of the time and commitment required to be a member of the dance team, it will be difficult to hold a part time job or participate in other school activities/sports. A job is no excuse for missing practices or a performance and this could result in the lowering of your dance grade, removal from a performance, competition routine and/or the dance team. With that being said, we want our dancers to get the best high school experience and realize that schedule conflicts happen. Please let the director know of ANY conflicts that occur so that we can work out any issues with both sides proper and timely communication is important! IMPORTANT DATES TO CONSIDER Mandatory Parent Meeting, Monday May 5 th in the Dance Room. Varsity team- 5:30pm, JV- 6:15pm, Cavaliers- 7pm, All Male- 7:45pm. Summer Practices: June and August times and days TBD (we will take July off)* attendance requirements are enforced. Summer Senior and Leader Camp (optional but highly recommended) July 24 th -26 th All teams Dance Workshop @ SMHS: August 4 th -15 th. Days and Times TBD Competition Season: January to April 2015 (practices for these dances will start mid Nov/Dec) Auditions- TBD Football Games: August-December Basketball Games: January-March Fall Show: December 2014 Dance Extravaganza: April 2015 Dance Choreography Show: April/May 2015 Cavalcade: May 2015 APPLICATION EXPECTATIONS a. Academics: a 2.0 GPA is required to try out and needs to be maintained throughout the school year. b. Attendance: school and practice attendance is important. Teachers must sign off on your attendance in class. Any time a dancer is not is school 4 periods of the day, they may not participate in a performance that very same evening. c. Skills: depending on what team(s) you are being considered for, we look to see what your current skills are as well as your ability to learn and adapt to a group. Judges are all experienced and trained dance teachers/coaches. Many factors go into the decision of a dancer s placement and it is with the entire team in mind that we select this way. d. Attitude: Three teacher recommendations are needed for your application. Returners must have one their recommendations signed by either Amanda or Bonnie. These are due the first day of auditions. e. Parent Support: it is important that your parent and/or legal guardian sign your application as verification of their support for your possible selection to the dance team. f. Tryouts: formal try outs and evaluation of A-E above are considered.
APPLICATION FOR THE 2014/2015 SMHS DANCE TEAM (Please bring completely filled out to try-outs and attach a current photo of yourself) Name: Student ID: Home Address: Dancer Cell #: Home Phone #: Dance Email: Present Grade: Present School: Present GPA: Dance Training: (where) (how long). Styles trained in: List other experiences related to dance: (studio classes, gymnastics, sports, camps) List other school involvements you are in/plan to be in: Please write a short paragraph on the back on why you want to participate in our Dance Team program. What type of member will you be? What is unique about you? How will you impact the program positively? Please select the team(s) that you would like to be considered for: Dance 2 (if I do not make the teams) Cavaliers All Male Junior Varsity* Varsity* ** Technical training is required for these teams. Jazz, Lyrical, Hip Hop styles are performed by both groups. Some expectations include: Single to triple pirouettes, Flexibility, Basic dance technique, cleanly executed kicks, jumps, leaps, ability to learn choreography quickly, performance experience. You and your parent must sign this form. Please turn in to Amanda Clark by the tryout date. This sheet will be kept on file for one year for all successful candidates. Please return only this sheet keeping the information sheet for your reference. I understand there is a chance of injury because this is an athletic event. I have read the attached information and give my daughter /son permission to be a candidate for the Dance Team. I have read attached information and agree to abide by all the regulations regarding the Dance Team Date Student Name Student Signature Date Parent Name Parent Signature
San Marcos High School Dance Team TEACHER EVALUATION FORM Candidate/ Student: Teacher s Name: Class/Period: To the Teacher, This form is confidential and at no time will this information be disclosed to anyone. It should be returned directly to Amanda Clark s mailbox on or before April 18 th. Please consider each category carefully since the information you provide will be used as the basis for the screening of the candidate. Middle school teachers, please return this form to SMHS via inter-district mail. SCORING: 4= EXCELLENT 3= SATISFACTORY 2= NEEDS IMPROVEMENT 1= POOR 1. Positive Attitude: Has an optimistic state of mind or feeling toward people, school, life in general 2. Cooperation: Works well with others 3. Work Ethic: 4. Punctuality: is prompt and on time to class with assignments completed, does things without delay. 5. Leadership skill: 6. Integrity/Honesty: Sticks to the code and positive value- is truthful, trust worthy, genuine 7. Initiative/Motivation: Ability to work on his/her own and make independent decisions 8. Dependability: Acts on his/her own; dependable 9. Class Work quality: does he/she talk? Is he/she attentive? 10. Overall: your feelings in general about how this candidate would represent SMHS Additional Comments: Thank you for your time and input! Teacher Signature:
San Marcos High School Dance Team TEACHER EVALUATION FORM Candidate/ Student: Teacher s Name: Class/Period: To the Teacher, This form is confidential and at no time will this information be disclosed to anyone. It should be returned directly to Amanda Clark s mailbox on or before April 18 th. Please consider each category carefully since the information you provide will be used as the basis for the screening of the candidate. Middle school teachers, please return this form to SMHS via inter-district mail. SCORING: 4= EXCELLENT 3= SATISFACTORY 2= NEEDS IMPROVEMENT 1= POOR 1. Positive Attitude: Has an optimistic state of mind or feeling toward people, school, life in general 2. Cooperation: Works well with others 3. Work Ethic: 4. Punctuality: is prompt and on time to class with assignments completed, does things without delay. 5. Leadership skill: 6. Integrity/Honesty: Sticks to the code and positive value- is truthful, trust worthy, genuine 7. Initiative/Motivation: Ability to work on his/her own and make independent decisions 8. Dependability: Acts on his/her own; dependable 9. Class Work quality: does he/she talk? Is he/she attentive? 10. Overall: your feelings in general about how this candidate would represent SMHS Additional Comments: Thank you for your time and input! Teacher Signature:
San Marcos High School Dance Team TEACHER EVALUATION FORM Candidate/ Student: Teacher s Name: Class/Period: To the Teacher, This form is confidential and at no time will this information be disclosed to anyone. It should be returned directly to Amanda Clark s mailbox on or before April 18 th. Please consider each category carefully since the information you provide will be used as the basis for the screening of the candidate. Middle school teachers, please return this form to SMHS via inter-district mail. SCORING: 4= EXCELLENT 3= SATISFACTORY 2= NEEDS IMPROVEMENT 1= POOR 1. Positive Attitude: Has an optimistic state of mind or feeling toward people, school, life in general 2. Cooperation: Works well with others 3. Work Ethic: 4. Punctuality: is prompt and on time to class with assignments completed, does things without delay. 5. Leadership skill: 6. Integrity/Honesty: Sticks to the code and positive value- is truthful, trust worthy, genuine 7. Initiative/Motivation: Ability to work on his/her own and make independent decisions 8. Dependability: Acts on his/her own; dependable 9. Class Work quality: does he/she talk? Is he/she attentive? 10. Overall: your feelings in general about how this candidate would represent SMHS Additional Comments: Thank you for your time and input! Teacher Signature: