Leah Obermeier, a Junior at Arrowhead High School, has been dancing for 13 years.
She now participates on the new dance team at Arrowhead called the Hawkettes, which allows studio dancers to be a part of Arrowhead’s athletic department. They only practice twice a week because they all also practice at their own studios.
Obermeier dances for Accent on Dance and Hawkettes. For Accent on Dance, she is a part of the senior elite team. They compete in ballet, tap, jazz, lyrical, hip-hop and modern dance. They have four or five regional competitions and then progress to Nationals during the beginning of the summer.
Obermeier’s club dance team “AOD”, short for Accent On Dance, practices in Waukesha, on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday from 6:30-9:30 pm. Her club teams practice sometimes for about four to seven hours a day, depending on what competition is approaching.
Hawkettes practice at South Campus is on Tuesday and Thursday from 3:00-5:00. Hawkettes dance at halftime of the boys varsity football game.
Obermeier dedicates her life to dance. In her free time, she choreographs her own routines and tries new tricks and moves out.
Obermeier says, “Not a lot of my friends appreciate what I do as a hobby, they say it’s not even a sport and that I don’t even have to work hard. That makes me upset because I work hard or even harder than a basketball player, a gymnast or a swimmer. Dance is hard work, you try doing a move that could risk your life. I wouldn’t call this sport easy.”
While Obermeier’s friends are hanging out, she spends time in her studio for hours upon hours practicing dancing, trying to nail each move to perfection.
“What I dislike about this sport,” Obermeier says, “practice is at weird times and I can never just have chill time for myself, but it is defiantly all worth it.”
Her greatest accomplishments are placing sixth at Nationals on her Teen Solo and also getting scholarships which give her opportunities to go to other competitions and take classes for free.
She hopes to go back to Nationals next year and place even higher.
“Dance is not only a passion,” Obermeier says, “but it is a way of life.”