Section dance at the Montevideo high school is one of my favorite sporting events to cover every year. The atmosphere in that gym is amazing and so much fun. I think the dance crazy fans play a big part in creating the atmosphere, along with the high energy the dancers bring to the gym floor. So much fun.

I am always surprised that I am the only radio station that covers section dance, I see a few newspapers represented but no radio. I think dance competitions are made for radio, interviewing dancers, coaches, parents, fans, students and broadcasting the results live over the air. Listen to the podcasts of the dance from Saturday, you can hear the excitement in everyones voice and the background noise of the music and fans going crazy. That is perfect for radio! http://www.klqpfm.com

Here are some of my observations from the Section Dance Competition in Montevideo Saturday. I have many of them.

1. When I arrived the temperature was minus 2 and there were so many people standing outside waiting for the doors to open. The line reached all the way down the sidewalk to the street. Some fans had been outside since 9am I was told. Thank goodness I have a media pass, I felt guilty walking by everyone to the doors, but I have a job to do 🙂
2. Dee Dee Schommer and Ken Fransky joined me in the booth to help with the broadcast. I can’t say enough about what these two people bring to the broadcast. They are so good on the radio. They are very knowledgeable about dance, they are so articulate with their speech. They both have daughters that dance and the excitement in their voices comes across on the radio so well.
3. The Maui Wowi Hawaiian smoothie concession stand was very busy. Every time I walked by the stand the line was 20 to 40 people deep! I have never had one of their smoothies because the line is to long! I did talk to the owners as I was leaving the gym, and asked them with a smile of my face if they had a good day. They smiled back and said “oh yes!”
4. I witnessed some crazy dance dads dressed like Freddie Mercury of the rock group Queen. The Shadows dance to Queen. After seeing Greg McCoy and Brandon Coil dressed like Freddie I knew I had to get them on the radio. Brad Fernholz was another dad I visited with, he dyed his hair and mustache pitch black and really looked the part. I saw other dads with the black mustaches as well, and I even got challenged to do the same for state. We will see about that.
5. Bob Grey the Montevideo AD, along with his staff do a fantastic job running the dance competition. I had to laugh at myself broadcasting the awards ceremony because I must of mentioned Bobs name one hundred times on the air. Bob almost gets run over by the girls coming to get their trophy when he hands it to them.
6. I asked Canby/Minneota coach Jordyn Stutelberg and her two seniors Kameron King and Avery Lokken, along with Jazz coach Taylor Cambell to join me on the radio after the competition was over. I know they were disappointed that they weren’t going on to state, so it was hard for them to visit with me and I appreciated their time with me. Jordyn is so humble and gracious and just loves her team. They did a great job.
7. I had the Shadows coach, Lisa Johnson and her daughter, Grace visit with me with their first place medals around their neck. While I was talking to them I was just thinking what a special moment for mother and daughter. Since Grace was born, Lisa has been the Shadows coach and now to see her daughter have the success she has had with the Shadows has to be something very special.
8. I would guess there were about 1500 people in the Montevideo gym, and over the crowd noise I thought I could hear my name being yelled. I looked over the crowd and found in the front row across the gym was LQPV students Paige Lehne, Lauren Benson, Ashlynn Wittnebel and Rachel Halvorson. I didn’t really recognize them because they were wearing black mustaches. 🙂 I think they wanted me to take their picture which I did.
9. I was so happy for Montevideo Gold Duster Kristin Dejong, last year Kristin assisted me with the state broadcast at Target Center and she did such a nice job on the radio with me. I remembered yesterday while watching her dance that I had told her at Target Center that she won’t be able to help me broadcast next year because the Gold Dusters will be at state competing. She said “Yes we will be.” The Gold Duster are going in Jazz and High Kick this year. I will still find time to visit with Kristin at state this coming week.
10. The smiles on Josie Munsterman and Lydia Aafedt’s faces while they were on the radio with me was fun to see. Lydia is the only senior on the team and she said this never gets old. Josie and Lydia were laughing and just so happy to be going to state dance again. They are always so happy and pleasant to visit with. It was a very fun interview to do.
11. I did not know that Eden Weber was going to sing the National Anthem. What a great job she did in front of a very large crowd. It was a striking picture that I took of her on the gym floor. Just Eden and the microphone.

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So onto state dance this week. My social media sites will be flooded with many posts of crazy dance dads, dancers, coaches, grandparents, broadcast partners and pictures of me wearing a black mustache. Going to be fun broadcasting from Target Center Friday and Saturday.