CEU dance team: red hot, rearing to go
“We’re here to work hard and have fun,” said an enthusiastic Melissa Anast, head coach of the CEU drill team.
The CEU Dance team is made up of eight lovely ladies who show what they’re made of by bringing something new and exciting to the teams’ performances each year.
Anast, while being the coach, is also the team’s choreographer. But she definitely knows what she’s doing. After growing up in Price and graduating from CEU, Anast went on to get her bachelor’s degree in dance and her master’s degree in choreography.
This archived article was written by: Marsha Jensen
“We’re here to work hard and have fun,” said an enthusiastic Melissa Anast, head coach of the CEU drill team.
The CEU Dance team is made up of eight lovely ladies who show what they’re made of by bringing something new and exciting to the teams’ performances each year.
Anast, while being the coach, is also the team’s choreographer. But she definitely knows what she’s doing. After growing up in Price and graduating from CEU, Anast went on to get her bachelor’s degree in dance and her master’s degree in choreography.
The team practices and performs all styles of dance including jazz and hip hop. Even though Anast choreographs all of the dances, she adds that the girls are more than welcome to voice their input on some of the moves. The team also has an opinion on their costumes, most of which are hand made by a local seamstress. The dancers have anywhere from three to five costumes each year.
Commenting on how the team members work with each other, Anast said, “The girls’ attitudes are all really good.” This answer was a little ironic when you look at the teams’ backgrounds. Three ladies graduated from Carbon High and three graduated from Emery, while the other two are from Bear River and Cottonwood High School. What’s so ironic? Carbon and Emery counties have had a long standing rivalry against one another. “Even though we were rivals in high school … we are all part of the team. There aren’t any grudges about where you come from. We are all here to dance. That’s all that matters to us,” said Michelle Dickey, CEU drill team member and graduate of Carbon High.
Their friendliness is partly due to the fact that Anast splits the team up into groups during practice. This not only allows the dancers to bond more, but it also brings about the opportunity to support and help each other with the more difficult moves.
The dancers are even performing with the CEU Cheerleaders in an effort to bring the two teams closer together.
While the dance team may only have ten performances this year, Anast made it very clear that these young ladies work just as hard as the other sports teams at CEU. For the girls, finally performing and putting on a good show makes all the early morning practices worth it.
They will be performing Friday January 18, during the women’s basketball game at 5:30 p.m. and the men’s game at 7:30 p.m.
In the words of team captain, Lexi Yelonek, “It’s good to be involved … it makes things a lot more fun.” So let’s all get out there and support these ladies who work so hard to bring the crowd new and edgy moves that will blow you away every time.
Members of the CEU drill team include:
Alexis Yelonek, Michelle Dickey, Laurel Lemon, Haley McCracken, Tia Rhodes, Trisha Munns, Brittany Stokes, Savannah Winn.
