Senior Sophie Nunez, a captain across Prospect’s three dance programs — Pom, Orchesis and Competitive Dance — spent the winter guiding her teammates through long practices. While Pom focuses on choreography and formations, Nunez said Competitive Dance demands a different kind of leadership, one centered on showing up to practice ready to set a positive example.
Competitive Dance practices every day under head coach Kristen Metzler and assistant coach Elle Weber. Each rehearsal begins with warmups and stretching, followed by either a mark (when dancers walk through choreography at a lower intensity) or a full-out performance of the routine, depending on how the previous practice went. From there, the team revises sections or cleans the dance to sharpen technique or formations. This season also brought earlier mornings, including 6 a.m. lifts.
During these long practices, Nunez said the bond between teammates has a major impact on how they perform.
“We always joke that it’s like we’re sisters,” Nunez said. “Because when we’re stressed and doing a lot of work, we almost … get mad at each other, but then two seconds later we’ll be fine.”
That bond guided the team through challenges during their season. Adjusting to a new head coach introduced unfamiliar obstacles, including adapting to a different coaching style. As a captain, Nunez said she encouraged her teammates to stay present and only focus on what they could control.
The style of their dance this season also challenged expectations. Prospect is often known for lyrical performances, but the team committed fully to a jazz style set to Billy Joel’s “Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song).” While other schools traditionally perform jazz, few expected Prospect to take that direction.
“I remember all my friends and family saying, ‘That dance is so good,’” Nunez said. “That was definitely a high. I just remember being so proud, especially because of all the [challenges in the season] I felt like it didn’t change anything for us. We were still Prospect.”
To prepare for these competitions, the team treated Thursday and Friday full-outs as if they were performing at the actual event. They also held pasta parties on Friday nights and made Starbucks runs on competition days, creating opportunities for the dancers to connect outside of practice.
“I sometimes prefer being with my dance friends because they just get me,” Nunez said. “They’re my best friends. I’d do anything for them.”
When the team learned their sectional competition at Dundee-Crown High School on Jan. 26 would include top programs in the state, like 2025 IHSA 3A State Finals top-placing teams Barrington and Stevenson, Nunez knew every practice had to count.
“[We] had to make every practice effective and efficient [going into sectionals,]” Nunez said. “I almost felt like I wanted to give up because I knew it was going to be so hard, but then [I] realized that I would rather go into [the competition] trying … my best than going in … with a [bad mentality].”
Prospect ultimately missed advancing to state by just 0.3 points, scoring an 87.63, bringing an emotional end to the season. Still, Nunez said she will remember the sectional performance as her strongest in four years on Prospect dance.
“It was really hard for me to see my season end when I didn’t want it to,” Nunez said. “But I actually could not be more proud of where we were. I thought if we didn’t make it we’d be low … The fact that we were 0.3 off makes me so proud of my team and to know that everyone fought the most they [could].”
