Dance competitions are always fun and exciting.
The costumes, the music, and the audience’s energy combined make for an entertaining event.
In Australia, drill dance is a popular type of dance that regularly holds national dance competitions that showcase the talent of various drill dance groups.
Drill dance originates from marching, a sport in Australia meant for girls that was extremely popular in the 1960s and 1970s.
Marching involved girls dressed up in white boots, skirts, sashes, and formal hats, marching to music.
Marching teams would compete against each other in weekend competitions and perform for visiting dignitaries, in agricultural shows, and city parades.
At its peak, 50,000 girls were involved in marching in the 60s.
Today, marching has transformed into drill dancing.
“We have evolved so much. The boots are still there but we wear leotards, fascinators, but there are no gloves, no hats, no batons,” drill dancing coach Maree Austin told Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).
While drill dancing is still primarily a female sport, some teams have accepted males into their teams.
There are drill dancing teams in almost all states of Australia.
In this video, a team is competing in the 2016 Australian DrillDance Championships. Similar to marching, the girls must dance in sync to music.
The dancers here are performing in the Senior Prop DrillDance category, which requires teams to perform a drill/dance/rhythmic type of routine using props.
The team must have precise movements and can choose any music of their choice.
The theme of this group performance was fire, which the team showed through their props of large cloths in orange and yellow.
Attached at the end of each cloth was a fan, which they surprised the audience with at the end of their routine.
The girls’ props waved like flames of fire while they were dancing.
They creatively used a medley of upbeat songs all related to fire like Know What You Did in the Dark by Fall Out Boy, Fireball by Pitbull, Burnin’ Up by Jessie J, and Firestarter by Samantha Jade.
From beginning to end if the three minute routine, the girls moved to the music in sync with each other and with their props.
They waved their props in tune to the music, while also performing challenging dance steps and creating interesting shapes by moving around the stage.
There is never a dull moment throughout the routine as the girl are constantly dancing and marching on stage.
The energetic music also added to the excitement of the dance routine.
It’s wonderful to see marching, a significant part of Australia’s history, still have an audience in today’s modern world.
While drill dance is not as popular as it once was, joining it still has many benefits.
Drill dance offers young people opportunities to engage in physical activity, improve their posture and coordination, and experience teamwork.
Most importantly, it’s fun!
Girls experience working together on a creative endeavor that culminates in an exciting dance competition.
This year, the Australian Drill Dance Championships will be held in Cambride Park, New South Wales.
We look forward to seeing the dance routines from this year’s competition.
We’re hopeful drill dancing will continue to live on through Australia’s youth.
Marching, now drill dancing, is a terrific tradition that should not be forgotten.
Watch the entire exciting drill dance routine in the video below!
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