Another Creative Outlet

 

Raegan Lane, junior criminal justice major from Fort Worth, Texas

For years, I have been a creative writer. I have published a book and a play and written dozens of scenes, stories, and poems. But there are other ways I enjoy expressing my creativity. I am also a cheerleading coach and choreographer. I love coming up with dances and piecing together routines. I always love finding creative ways for specific teams to show their school traditions in a performance. For example, I took a varsity cheer team’s step-chant and put it in the opening of their Game Day Competition routine, something that every other team didn’t do. That way, the team could express their traditions and heritage in the sport of cheerleading. This spark of creativity allows schools to express their uniqueness, even when competing with the same material as the other teams.

Another thing I love doing is choreographing different eight-count dances for the teams that I coach. These small sections are put into routines in between skills. Lately, I have been challenging myself to create an entire dance I could teach to teams one day. My creative process usually starts with a song. For this dance, I heard “Timber” by Pitbull (feat. Kesha) on the radio, and immediately a few motions came to mind (the snaps in the beginning). From there, I began doing what felt natural.

Another significant part of dances is ripples. This is when one group hits their motions at a different time than another, the next group goes, then they rejoin and continue. There is one part in this dance for a ripple: two groups could hit different motions and rejoin (beginning of the 2nd eight-count). For this dance, there is also an option at the end for the front row to roll on the ground and hit motions, while the back stands for the eye aesthetic of levels.

I love using my creativity in outlets other than writing. One day, I hope to choreograph routines for huge teams to use to compete in school cheer. I also hope to become a head varsity coach for a school cheer team. For now, I will continue coming up with these dances and coaching teams in the summer and sharing my creativity with the world of cheerleading.