A dance team from Le Studio in St. Agathe will be traveling to San Diego in December for the NCAA Division college football 38th annual National University Holiday Bowl.

Coach Liz Markwart says they were recommended by a dance team in Oakbank and after consideration by World Stride Performances, they were invited and are the only Canadian team in attendance. Markwart adds the reality is slowly setting in with each step in the process adding they first put the deposit in, then were measured for costumes followed by choreography.

Markwart adds it's going to be a very busy and exciting time for the team.

St. Agathe's Le Studio dance team (Photo by Liz Markwart)

"We have a general outline," she notes. "So we get there, check in is by noon and then by 3:00 we start rehearsing with the entire group. That can be between 300 and 500 dancers and we rehearse until 10:00 that night. Then at 7:00 the next morning everyone hops on a bus and they end up at a big outdoor ranch, which is a big field to practice. Then there's a dance convention that afternoon. The next day is the big balloon parade which goes down along the marina and beach of San Diego. So the dance teams are opening that up and they're the front of that big giant parade. Then that night, I believe, is the actual Holiday Bowl game with the half time show and in the middle there is a Sea World event where there's a big dinner and dance with an award ceremony for all the groups that are there."

She says they were sent a video of choreography which they needed to practice and have memorized by the end of December.

"They sent us a video in pieces and we had to learn it, not only do we have to learn it, we have to learn it in different directions," explains Markwart. "They way choreography goes is that it could go left, it could go right, you could be moving forward while others are going back. But they had to know all those sections. They learned it all in three rehearsals. I really thought it would take two full weeks of getting it down and they learned it in three. They are so excited and committed."

Markwart adds they are continuing with rehearsals three times a week to continue working on the choreography and perfecting it. She says the event takes place from December 27 to 31 and even though they're from a small town she notes it doesn't diminish the possibilities or opportunities available to them and this is proof.