On Monday afternoon, Crookston High School senior Maddi Knutson signed to dance at Minnesota State University, Moorhead next school year. Knutson is going to MSUM for nursing and hopes to be a pediatric nurse.
Knutson has danced on the Pirate Varsity Dance team since she was in seventh grade and has become a leader for the Pirates, both on and off the floor. The multi-sport athlete was also an outstanding soccer player for the Pirate Girls Soccer team. Knutson said she went to a clinic and that was a big factor in the decsion. “I went to their clinic, and I met their coach, and I just loved her, and I got to meet their teammates, and they just have such a positive environment there,” said Knutson. “I wanted to get far but not too far so that I can still come back home if I need anything so it’s pretty perfect area.”
Knutson said she looks forward to continuing the improvement of her skills. “I think I’m looking forward to pushing my skills to the next level and getting to dance with dancers that are you know like really skilled and at that collegiate level,” said Knutson.
Knutson is the first Pirate dancer under Coach Grace Espinosa that has gone on to dance and college. “it is really exciting. It’s our first dancer, actually, in the history that has signed to dance in college,” said Coach Espinosa, who also coaches Just 4 Kix in Crookston. “With running both the high school team and Just 4 Kix, we have a lot of opportunities for all the kids to meet a lot of collegiate dancers. So that helps us out, too. But now seeing a dancer from our town, I think it’s really starting to inspire all the little kids.”
Knutson has been in dance since she was little and is an extremely hard worker. “I’ve been lucky enough to coach her for 10 years, and we’re also related, so it was always a weird dynamic of like I can be way harder on her than other kids, but sometimes it’s too hard, and sometimes it’s too easy so we had a good dynamic with her growing up,” said Coach Espinosa. “Hands down, she’s one of the hardest workers. She’s super stubborn, but I feel like it worked out in her benefit because if she wanted to do something, and wanted to make it happen, she did.”
Not only is Knutson a great dancer and soccer player, but she is also a great leader for the younger kids. “She’s like the heart of the team, a team player, always looking out for other people. You can always count on her to be the one doing all the extra stuff, like helping all the younger kids learn all their stuff,” said Coach Espinosa. If they miss practices, She’s always catching them up. She’s always promoting the team, so she’s just been the heart of the team for so long, and she’s definitely going to be missed.”
Knutson still has competitions left before leaving for college. “For Just 4 Kix, we are actually heading out to nationals tomorrow (Tuesday) so Maddie will get the chance to compete again. And right now she’s undefeated in her solo. So she might come home a national champion in that,” said Coach Espinosa. “We have our spring show coming up on Saturday, May 16th, at the high school. And it’ll involve the high school dancers and all the Just 4 Kix kids. And then our season starts up in June for summer classes. So make sure you sign up for those.”
