The Glendale High School dance and drill team returned from a national competition recently with six first-place wins, the most a Glendale High team has secured at one time in the school’s history.
At the United Spirit Assn. nationals held in late March in Anaheim, director Kelly Palmer’s varsity dance and drill teams won first place in five categories: large dance/drill, large all-male hip-hop, coed dance, championship large military and championship small military.
The junior varsity team also came in first place in the open small military event.
For Palmer, the likelihood of this year’s team meeting more success than last year’s group at first seemed uncertain, given that last year’s team brought home four first-place wins.
At the start of the season, Palmer recalled how the team adopted the mindset that would allow them to reinvent themselves altogether.
“Last year, we had such a good year. My kids were afraid they couldn’t repeat it,” Palmer said. “[It] got to the point where I needed to tell them to not try to be last year’s team, but be this year’s team.”