A lot of high schools offer Choir and Drama, but dance classes (other than drill team) would have to be private lessons and for years to get up to a level of triple-threat proficiency, which is far beyond the means of most students and schools. It's extremely rare to find a triple threat in a public high school (private school or a performing arts school perhaps, but are they included in this competition?), much less more than one, and for what? One musical a year for about three or four performances. Most schools enlist students from choir for the chorus and members of the drill team for dancers because that is precisely what their resources will allow.
They slowed down and dragged out Seize the Day so much that it seemed like a dirge. Plus, the choreography during the song wasn't striking or original at all. Mainly the kids knelt down and stood up again. Expecting a lot of choreography or stellar dancing for a one-time performance taught to high-schoolers in a few days from schools that probably don't have dance programs seems extremely far-fetched. Maybe 10 out of the 60 kids were okay dancers, but that clearly wasn't a focus in the show or the competition. And unless they are auditioning for a specific show, it really doesn't need to be. Plenty of musicals have little/simplistic choreography, including many that are extremely popular around here: Rent, Spring Awakening, Grey Gardens, Next to Normal, Caroline or Change, Les Miserables, etc.
Seize the Day sounded like they were doing the intro portion before the song shifts into a quicker tempo. They weren't performing full versions of every song. It was medleys with lyric alterations highlighting the "current" Broadway musicals (at the time the performance took place). Not sure what you were expecting.
"What can you expect from a bunch of seitan worshippers?" - Reginald Tresilian
