The TVHS Dance Varsity lettering system was created a few years ago in collaboration with the TVHS ASB Director, Mr. Burlingham, and the principal at the time, Mr. Williams, in an effort to align our system with other activities (not sports) on campus and develop a system that provides ALL students on a TVHS Dance Team (whether it is Alliance, Vitality, or Ignite) with an opportunity to earn a letter. Ms. Lewis, Mr. Burlingham, and Mr. Williams felt very strongly that any student who is involved in an extracurricular or co-curricular activity and demonstrates a significant contribution to our campus while they are involved in that activity should earn a letter. Furthermore, the current TVHS administrative team agrees with this sentiment.
The TVHS Dance lettering system is based on an accumulation of points earned for each event students perform in and is cumulative for the entire time a student is in the TVHS Dance Program, beginning with Intermediate Dance / Ignite.
In order to earn a varsity letter and a pin, the student must have an accumulation of 30 points. Each subsequent 30 points results in an additional pin. In general, a student would earn the required number of points after 1 full year on Alliance, 1.5-2 years on Vitality, and 2-3 years on Ignite (depending on the number of performances/qualifying activities each year). However, the amount of time it takes a student to earn 30 points is fully dependent on the number of events in which a student actually participates.
During In Person Instruction
Students earn points for their commitment to and work they put into their team and the TVHS Dance Program. Please note that each student earns the number of points specified for each event that year if and only if they participate and perform in the event. In other words, if, for any reason, a student does NOT perform in a specific event with the rest of the team, then that student DOES NOT earn the points for that event while the rest of the team DOES earn the points for that event. (This safeguards us from the chance that a student may be “on” a team yet chooses not to perform in any events; then that student cannot earn their letter.)
Please see the list below for how students earn points during a normal in-person school year:
Large performances (such as Dance Evolution or Valley Fusion) - Alliance = 3 points; Vitality = 2 points; Ignite = 2 points
Football games - Alliance = 2 points; Vitality = 1 point; Ignite = N/A
Small performances / events - All teams = 1 point
Choreographing a full dance / piece for a team performance or project (over 1:00 long) - All teams = 1 point
Choreographing a small piece for a team performance or project (less than 1:00 long) - All teams = 0.5 point
During Online Learning (2020-2021 School Year ONLY)
During online learning, students may earn points for their participation in class and completion of projects. Since projects assigned to Advanced Dance/Alliance are more involved and complex than those assigned to Advanced Dance/Vitality, which are more involved and complex than those assigned to Intermediate Dance/Ignite, you will notice there is a sliding scale, based on the level of the class/team. Other criteria, such as participation in a recorded performance, are the same from one team to another.
Please see the list below for how students will earn points during online learning:
Completion of Final Semester Project, on time, earning 100% - Alliance = 5 points; Vitality = 4 points; Ignite = 3 points
Participation in any recorded performance (TVHS Arts Fair, rallies, etc.) - All teams = 2 points
Completion of Unit Projects, on time, earning 100% - Alliance = 3 points; Vitality = 2 points; Ignite = 1 point
Each additional 30 seconds of choreography in choreographed pieces that are at least 1 minute in length - All teams = 1 point
All students are strongly encouraged to keep track of their individual points for comparison with Ms. Lewis's records.
Varsity letters and pins are awarded and distributed at the annual end-of-year banquet. However, if a student earns their letter earlier in the school year, they are welcome to inform Ms. Lewis and receive their letter from the Activities Office.
Why don’t the dance teams follow the same Varsity, JV, and Frosh/Soph lettering system that the sports teams at TVHS follow and which some other high school dance teams follow?
We don’t follow the same system as sports teams on campus because we are considered a “co-curricular activity” and not an “athletic team.” Although there are some areas in which we overlap with athletic teams (such as needing athletic clearance to participate and students receiving PE credit for the course), in most areas, we are separate from athletics, and we are overseen by Mr. B, the ASB Director, instead of Mr. Harney, the Athletic Director.
This actually benefits our program in a number of ways. First, if we did stick to the classic “Varsity / JV / Frosh/Soph” system in labelling our teams, we would face a number of limitations. For example, all seniors in a given sport can ONLY be on the varsity level team. That means that if a senior is not at the varsity level, they are cut from the sport entirely. In dance, this would mean that we would only be allowed to have seniors on Alliance and would not be allowed to have seniors on either Vitality or Ignite, which would weaken the program as a whole and cut down on the number of students who are able to be involved in dance at TVHS.
Other high school dance teams, like GOHS, do follow this system, but their dance teams are not connected to their dance classes, offered during the school day. Those teams are considered “extra-curricular”, because they are an extra activity a student participates in outside their normal schedule, while our teams are considered “co-curricular”, which means our students are participating in activities during class time and after school. Additionally, sports teams are single season sports, whereas Dance (and similar activities like Drama and ASB) are full-year activities. That means that Football can award their letters after the fall season has ended. Since our season is the entire school year, we need a system that accounts for all of the events of the entire year, which sometimes haven’t all occurred by the time we hold our banquet in the spring. (The only way around this would be to have a banquet in the summer each year, but this would make it difficult for students to attend, for us to get our certificates, for us to hold the event on campus, etc., etc., etc.)