After witnessing the school-wide praise of Dance Troupe’s performances at many past games and rallies, students took advantage of a second opportunity to join the group. The first Dance Troupe tryouts occurred at the beginning of the year, but for the second semester, the team decided to host a second round of tryouts on Wednesday, Jan. 12 in the AWHS Yoga Room in hopes of further expanding the team.

Senior captains Ava Stephens and Emelia Reuter hoped to perform at more school-wide events this year, but to their dismay, COVID-19 created obstacles for that opportunity. Due to this, the team didn’t have the turnout they had hoped for at the fall tryouts.

 “Because of COVID-19 we didn’t get to have that much exposure to the younger grades…. Freshman and sophmores didn’t really know too much about Dance Troupe, and we didn’t get as many people trying out as we wanted,” Ava said.

Both captains were excited to host the tryouts and looked forward to seeing who would bring the most passion and positivity.

“We’re looking for people with really good energy who love to dance, want to have fun with us and contribute to the team,” Emelia said. 

The tryouts began with each captain teaching a routine to the hopeful Dance Troupe members for a total of 30 minutes. After teaching choreography at the tryout, the current team members left to allow the newcomers to continue under less pressure.

Several freshmen, such as Grace Garvey, tried out for Dance Troupe for the first time on Wednesday, Jan. 12. She felt slightly unprepared, considering the last time she danced was two years ago, but was glad she tried out. 

“It was a little bumpy in the start, but I was pretty solid when I was auditioning,” Grace said.

Grace had a scheduling conflict with another sport at the beginning of the school year, so didn’t have the opportunity to try out the first time. Sophomore Lindsey Jones found herself in a similar situation. She was persuaded by her friend, who’s already on the team, to try out this semester because of a conflict with volleyball during the last tryouts. 

“Brody [current Dance Troupe member] told me to try out, because he would teach me the dances… I felt like I did average, not the best and not the worst,” Lindsey said. 

The tryout participants received a text the night of tryouts on Wednesday, Jan. 12 notifying them if they made the team.