Advice to New Dance Captains

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Advice to New Dance Captains

Being the captain of a dance team can be one of the most rewarding and challenging experiences for a dancer. We reached out to dance team captains from across the country to get their best tips for transitioning into a new leadership role. Here’s what they had to say:

Stay positive.

This is the most important thing to remember throughout the year. You are going to have difficult days, and it is up to you to motivate everyone to think positively. Keeping a good mindset is crucial to reach goals as a team. Positivity is contagious and it starts with the leaders. People will look up to you for always having the best attitude. You have the power to set the tone for practices and competitions.

Create a relationship with your coach.

You are now the middle man between the team and your coach. It is your responsibility to relay information and to keep an open dialogue with everyone. If there are concerns from the team, you tell the coach. If there are worries from the coach, you tell the team. It is important that you feel comfortable talking to your coach at any time. At the beginning of practice, ask your coach what he/she wants to accomplish that day so you can make sure it happens. If you hear discrepancies from the team about a dance, song or outfit, talk to your coach and see if you can come to a compromise.

Stay humble and work hard.

You are now the role model and standard for the rest of the team. If you have to step out and clean a section of the dance, you must be able to step back in and execute what you just cleaned. Work just as hard if not harder than what you expect from the team. Who wants to do workouts? You do! Who wants to do the dance just one more time? You do! This type of attitude will spread throughout the team, especially the younger girls. Through all of this, stay humble. You are not in this position for yourself, but because you want to better the team.

Don’t compare yourself to other captains before you.

This is YOUR YEAR! Take what you liked from previous leaders and change what you didn’t like. Learn from experiences and grow from them. You aren’t going to do everything perfectly. You may lose your cool. You may be off your game. You may make a bad decision and that’s okay! You are human. The only thing you can do is keep bringing your best. You are in this position for a reason. So be yourself and have a great time doing it!

Motivate and delegate.

Don’t feel like you need to do everything yourself! You have other future leaders standing ready to help you. Let other dancers get involved to give everyone ownership of team success. Always encourage teammates to get involved, and give positive feedback on the things they do well.

Being a captain will teach you so many things about yourself and about life. Embrace it and enjoy every minute. You can leave a legacy on a team and change them for years to come. Take the responsibility head on and be that example!

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