ALTON - Danielle Lusicic, the head dance team coach at Marquette Catholic High School, said she has been dancing all of her life.
When she auditioned to dance on the St. Louis Steam Heat Ambush Dancers in the late 1980s, however, she did not think she was going to make the team. She was one of 45 young women accepted aboard, and she said she spent the next seven years performing and doing promotions for the soccer team. She said she danced at half-time, crafted posters, did parades and danced at local colleges and high schools throughout the area.
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"For the most part, though, I danced at Steamer and Ambush games," she said. "I was shocked when I made the cut. That started my career in professional dancing."
Lusicic and her fellow dancers from as long as two decades ago gathered last weekend for the Steam Heat Ambush Alumni Game. She said she was able to reconnect with the women with whom she danced, and had a great time performing the same routines she did 20 years ago.
"We performed the same routine we did 20 years ago," she said. "We did the opening tunnel with the steam coming from it, and did the same halftime show we did 20 years ago. It was a lot of fun. It was more difficult now that I'm older. I got to connect with girls I haven't seen for 20 years, though, and that was great."
Following her time dancing for the Steam Heat Ambush Dancers, Lusicic began coaching. She coached the dance team for the Missouri Monsters Pro Arena Football team and the Piasa Professional Indoor Soccer team before entering her current chapter coaching the Marquette Catholic High School Dance Team, who are going to state this coming weekend in Springfield.
"We competed in four regionals to get to state," Lusicic said. "We competed in Edwardsville, Highland, Mattoon and Althoff, and placed first in kick and jazz, so we get to go to state this weekend in Springfield."
