Stacey’s Dance Studio Introduces Cheerleading Team - Kingwood

It’s something owner Stacey Willms has wanted to do for a long time. Not only can Stacey dance, she can cheer too. She was a Nebraska Cornhusker cheerleader in college.

The team will be called the Dynamic Cheer All-Stars. The competition team will be structured along the lines of the studio’s award-winning Kingwood Strutters’ dance team. The cheer team will be offered to girls in first grade through high school. Like the Strutters, the cheer team will have practices two times a week. Try-outs will be in April with the teams starting to practice in the summer and compete in the fall.

Kristin Ragusa, a Kingwood native and former dance student of Stacey’s, will direct the cheerleading program. Ragusa, an accomplished cheerleading instructor, returned to the studio last summer.

Ragusa cheered on her high school cheerleading squad, as well as a competitive team in McKinney, called Pro Spirit.  She was Universal Cheerleading Association All-American three years in a row and National Cheerleading Association All-Star four years in a row.  She has been coaching competitive cheerleading for more than six years - most recently in Lufkin for the Tiger All-Stars.  She has also done choreography for many high schools including Nacogdoches and Lufkin. Ragusa has been a coveted judge at many cheer competitions and tryouts throughout Texas.

“We have had such growth in the dance area with the Kingwood Strutters that I didn't have the time or energy to devote to making a solid cheer program,” explains Willms about why it has taken her so long to add cheerleading to the studio’s repertoire. “Last year when Kristin called me, I knew that the dream of a cheer program was definitely in the near future.”

Ragusa knows first hand the life-long benefits of cheerleading. “Being a part of a competitive cheer team will allow girls to get the most out of cheerleading,” she says. “They will be able to cheer, tumble, dance, stunt and learn to work as a team. Being on the cheer team will teach them discipline, respect, leadership and unity.”

Photo: Stacey Willms, center, welcomes Kristin Ragusa, left, and Gabrielle Ray as instructors for Stacey’s Dance Studio’s new Dynamic Cheer All-Stars competitive cheerleading team.  Photo by Pat and Ray’s Studio.