When it comes to exciting formation dancing, Drill Dance is the part dance, part military tattoo routine that you never knew you needed. Although it started in America, its popularity has grown so much that it’s reached many other countries too. In the incredible video below, a team called Enigma is rocking the Drill Dance Australia competitions.
According to Dance Parent 101, “dance drill teams are similar to military drill teams as their movements are also precise and dancers move as a unit. However, many dance drill teams use modern, ballet, folk, tap, and hip-hop moves in their routines.”
You can definitely see a military feel in Enigma’s performance. The girls have trained and put in the same effort that a unit in the armed forces would. They wear matching outfits, and although they aren’t uniforms, they are more demure than you would see in other forms of dance. They all look identical in short green and purple glittery dresses with green capes.
They may not be showing skin, but that doesn’t stop them from smoldering as they begin to dance. Their stare is piercing, and every move is so precise. They seem so totally in control that you long to make them smile. Hopefully, they smiled when they finished their drill, knowing they had hit it out of the park. It was absolutely perfect.
The routine starts with marching and salutes and it seems impossible that fifteen girls could move so perfectly in sync. It speaks to their commitment, dedication and how much they’ve practiced. It must have taken countless hours to get such a flawless routine together. At times, as they transition from move to move, they seem like a magic eye picture. You feel that if you keep staring a picture will form. It’s a performance you must watch.
Because it’s not a well-known discipline, you might think drill dance is a new sport. However, it can trace its roots all the way back to the 1920s. This is when drill dance’s predecessor, the pep squad, swept across high schools in Southwest America. In teams ranging from a handful to over a hundred students, they danced in shirts and long skirts, bringing positivity and rays of happiness in a country still suffering from the Great Depression.
They marched in formation, did stunts and help up letters. Later, a squad named the Flaming Flashes in Greenville, Texas incorporated baton twirling, busking, drumming and dance moves. Later, the vice president of Kilgore College hires the Flashes’ coach to create a squad to keep spectators in their seats and entertain them at half-time. She came up with the idea of a precision dance squad and dance drills were born.
They were called the Kilgore Rangerettes and their popularity spread quickly. Performances were requested across America, and the squad appeared in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, on the Ed Sullivan Show and with the Ice Capades. A new art form was born. In the years that followed, dance drill squads spread across America, and eventually the world.
Now you know how it all started, why not check out a performance from the Kilgore Rangerettes themselves. If you would like to see more from Drill Dance Australia, you can subscribe to their YouTube channel.