The season for dance is finally beginning! Senior captain, Ashley Haggerty, is taking on another season as a Jacksonville J’ette. I chose to interview her because right now, the J’ettes are working on perfecting their competition routines to perform at the Bowl and their upcoming competitions that begin in January of 2020. 

Ashley says that she is super excited to see where this year takes the team. There is so much potential for the dance team with all of the amazing dancers that are a part of the J’ettes this year. She is also very upset that this is her last year as a J’ette.  She will not get to experience another year with this team and her coaches. This is one of her favorite things she has been a part of and she does not want to see it come to an end. 

Ashley loves that her team has such a close bond. She says since they are all best friends, practices are always fun and exciting. She loves watching the dances evolve from the time they first learned them to where they are now. She is so excited for the final product of all of their dances. She says that being a captain is super stressful, but it is so exciting to see something that she has put so much work into finally come together. Being captain, alongside senior Ava Lahey and junior Claire Van Aken, is so worth it, and she loves that she is able to be an amazing leader for her team. 

Ashley believes that her team is successful because they are constantly working and pushing each other to be the best that they can be. There are no days off for these girls. Everyone takes time out of every day to review dances, work on technique, or help come up with something to add to a dance. Working together is something that makes this team what it is. Everyone is motivated by the fact that there is a big legacy to live up to. All the girls push themselves hard to be able to fill those shoes. Haggerty says that before each performance, the dancers circle up as a team and encourage each other to do their best. This helps all the girls prepare to take the floor. 

This season, there are two dances, a pom routine and a lyrical routine. Pom is a fun, fast-paced, and upbeat dance to a mix of Prince songs. It features technical pom arms and lots of fun jumps and turns. Watching this dance keeps the audience on their toes because they are so excited to see what is going to happen next. The lyrical piece is to a song called “Change is Everything.” This dance is about how every little decision makes changes to the course of a person’s life forever. 

Ashley’s goal for this season is for the team to be the best version of itself that it can be. This is the most important thing to accomplish when doing anything, and it relates to this sport so much. The team’s ultimate goal is to continue being successful and to hopefully win state again. This year is going to be so exciting and the whole team hopes to do their best in everything that they do.