Since early September, members of the Dance Fusion Competition Team have been vigorously preparing for their first competition of the 2015-2016 season.

The team will hold their competition showcase on Saturday, February 20, 2016, in the Tyrone Area High School Auditorium. At the showcase, Competition Team members will perform their dances for an audience.

Solos, duets, and trios will open the competition season at Headliners Competition in Johnstown on the last weekend of February.  Dance Fusion will also attend three other regional competitions: Turn It Up in Lancaster, Starquest in Pittsburgh, and Nexstar in Lancaster.

Dance Fusion’s Dancers work all year round to have platinum-worthy performances at each competition. The competition team members are usually at the studio three or four days of the week, up to four hours a night, working hard to ensure the look of their performance. The team, consisting of 24 girls, most of whom are Tyrone middle and high school students, perfect each competition dance for about 16 weeks.

Justice Myers, Dance Fusion Competition Team member for seven years, says that dance is especially difficult because it is so time consuming. Dancers sacrifice weekends and free time every week with their friends just to be at the studio.

“The hardest thing about the competition team is getting the girls to care as much as I do. They sometimes forget that it’s a privilege and not a right,” said studio owner Lindsay Pullara.

Pullara has been dancing for 35 years and teaching for 19 years. As soon as she was old enough to start dancing, Lindsay knew she wanted to one day have a studio of her own.

The teachers at Dance Fusion dedicate just as much time to dance as the dancers do, if not more.

“I spend countless hours on choreography depending on the week and at what point in the season we are. I spend about three hours a day on studio work before I get to the studio,” Pullara said.

Although the dancers are very dedicated to the studio, they sometimes make mistakes but are taught to keep dancing and performing, no matter what the situation may be. Pullara’s opinion on making mistakes and having regrets is something she tells all of her students.

“I don’t believe in regrets. I think every experience you have makes you who you are today, and if you changed any one of your experiences, you would be a much different person,” Pullara stated.

Joby Scalia-Hunter, a Dance Fusion dance mom, said that the most important thing about the competition team is knowing the choreography and dancing as a group.

Both Pullara and Myers’ favorite part about the competition team is the feeling of family, watching the girls achieve their goals, and bonding with each member.

As Dance Fusion dives into a new season of competing, the girls will use everything they’ve been taught to grow as dancers, performers, and people.

Students interested in more information about the team or the studio should visit Dance Fusion’s Facebook page or their website at www.dancefusiontyrone.com