Allie Thaman: poms

Allie Thaman could not focus in any of her classes. It was Nov. 26, and her first Turkey Day Pep Rally performance as a varsity pommie loomed hours away. She wanted everyone to see it.

“Every hour that passed you were closer and I just wanted it to be the pep rally,” Thaman, sophomore, said. “Nothing else in the day mattered other than that dance.”

Thaman said it was the most nervous she had ever been to perform because of the amount of people in attendance. No one knew what the poms were doing for their routine. Thaman said there was a lot of pressure.

Thaman said the pressure lifted, however, once her first performance for KHS concluded. According to Thaman, she felt relieved and and ready to do the routine again the next night for the Kirkwood community.

“You knew everyone liked it, and you got it over with once so you knew you could do it,” Thaman said. “All of the hard work paid off. You knew you had done well and accomplished something.”

The hard work Thaman described began over a month before the pep rally. She said the varsity poms team would have 5 a.m. practices the same day as evening practices. She said there were some Sunday all-day rehearsals where they would drill the routine and work to make it spotless. According to Thaman, every practice and rehearsal was intense.

Adding to that workload, Thaman also dances for the Dance Center of Kirkwood, where she has taken classes since age 3, marking her 13th year with the program. Thaman said her daily routine consists of poms practice from 3:30-5 p.m., and then dance classes from 7-9 p.m.

“It all ends up working out, but it’s a lot a day,” Thaman said. “The worst part is having to do homework, because that’s the last thing I want to do. But I like going to classes and going to poms so it’s not dreadful. I have fun at what I’m doing.”

Thaman dances every day but Sunday, taking classes in ballet, tap, jazz, modern and pointe. Thaman is a part of the Dance Center of Kirkwood’s ballet company as well as their competition team.

Being a part of so many dance organizations, Thaman’s year is filled with performances. For the Dance Center alone she has four recitals, four “Nutcracker” ballet shows and four competitions. After adding on the football games, basketball games, competitions and pep rallies the poms perform at, Thaman said she is sore a lot.

But Thaman said she has always had a love for performing. She said it is what drew her to dance when she was 3, and has been her favorite aspect since.

“It’s all of your work. You get to show what you’ve been working on,” Thaman said. “It’s like when basketball players play a basketball game and win. You get to show your hard work and that you’ve been training for this.”

According to Thaman, however, the training can be intense. Thaman said she has to visit the chiropractor for back problems, and that every two weeks she has to have her pelvis put back into place. According to Thaman, foot joint pain is common among dancers, and is usually caused by being on pointe, or dancing on their toes, in ballet.

“I know some people don’t like [pointe] because it can be painful, but I like it,” Thaman said. “It can be difficult sometimes. You have to build up the strength for it. Sometimes your feet will hurt with breaking in your shoes; blisters and stuff, but it’s all worth it. I like doing ballet up there.”

In The Nutcracker ballet, the snow queen performs a solo mainly on pointe. Thaman’s goal is to have that part, as well as be a varsity poms captain her senior year.

Whether it be poms or ballet, Thaman said dance has been a source of relief. When she dances, she said she stops thinking of her problems and stresses. Thaman said she does not know where she would be without dance.

“It’s my life pretty much. It’s what I love to do,” Thaman said. “It’s not only my hobby it’s what I look forward to. It’s what I want to continue to do throughout my life.”