As the band readies their instruments, the cheer team prepares itself on the sideline, thinking back to the movements they all memorized in the practices leading up to this. After years of the same routine, it is time for them to perform something new.
Whether they’re starting a cheer in the student section, dancing along to the music from the band, or performing stunts to captivate the audience, the team is always looking for ways to promote engagement from the audience. This year, to add to their performance on the sideline, the team introduced new dances to increase variety in their routines.
“We’ve always had the same four band dances, which we always do at games. And so this year, they gave us four new ones, so now we have eight to do, and so that just gives us a lot more selection,” junior Morgan Strong said.
The dances were choreographed by seniors like Brooklynn Spence. While this is the first time that the team has added extra dances to their routine, Spence and her teammates had thought about this in the past.
“My grade specifically has wanted to do [this] for the last couple years, but it’s senior decision, so now that we finally had the ability to do it, we decided to make the change instead of waiting for the next grade,” Spence said.
After they came up with the ideas for their new dances, the next step was to have everybody start learning them.
“We set videos out to learn through our communication, Band App, and then had them learn it, and then come to practice, and then we went over it to learn our ripples. It probably would take about 30 minutes of practicing a day just to keep the knowledge,” Spence said.
Having these extra dances also gave the team a chance to improve. While adding new choreography does take time to learn, spending that time can help team members develop skills that will prepare them for the season.
“It’s more prep material, just learning more stuff and having to quickly catch on to it. We were only given so much time to learn this stuff and put together and put it in front of the student section and people at football games. Obviously, there are changes in choreography all the time, so you just learn how to pick that up,” Spence said.
However, having this many dances presents a challenge to new members, especially freshmen. While many of the returning members only had to learn the four new dances, the newcomers had to learn all eight of them in a short period of time.
“It’s definitely stressful, especially because I’m in a lot of other activities. It’s a lot to memorize, and you just kind of have to practice a lot, [but] the coaches have definitely helped. They’ve been more lenient on the deadlines that I have to learn things, and the girls have been helpful in helping me remember stuff,” freshman Ella Ackerson said.
Many of the upperclassmen have stepped in to offer their guidance to those who are learning these dances for the first time. Through these interactions, the dances started to become more than just a way to diversify the team’s performances.
“It helped create more bonding in the beginning of the season, because when they sent all these out, we had to teach all the underclassmen eight dances instead of four, so it just gave everyone a really good opportunity to work together and learn these motions, because we would learn them at practices together,” Strong said.
Having this opportunity to bond has also helped the team’s camaraderie during their performances. In addition, Spence notes that emphasizing the community is beneficial for the team overall.
“Just having a positive attitude as a senior leaks into the other grades and just helps everyone have a more positive outlook on everything. And [you can] help the community by being just a better person in general and helping people out and going to the different events,” Spence said.
Coach Connor Churchill has also noticed the team’s increased efforts this year, with both the new dances and the stronger community.
“My goal for the team this season is to make memories with one another and to leave this year recognizing that what we do is larger than the individual,” Churchill said.
Through their expanded repertoire, the cheer team has been able to prepare a show that is much different than their previous years. With their sights set on qualifying for Nationals in February, the team is feeling prepared to succeed in the upcoming season.