Fiona Mcmanus’s eyes sparkle and her smile shines as she runs onto the field during halftime of Geneva’s homecoming game. Her kicks hit the sky and her jumps make her soar. The Blue Crue is screaming and cheering as she hits her beginning pose. Fiona starts to dance as hard as possible to impress her peers and show her team spirit.

“There’s so much excitement in the crowd as you’re running out there, and it’s mostly from the Blue Crue,” sophomore dance team member Fiona Mcmanus said, “it definitely hypes us up.”

For this year’s Homecoming week, the Varsity Dance Team is always busy with putting on a good show during games in hopes to pep up the Vikings.

“The biggest piece of advice I can give for success is to organize your time,” junior dance team member Triana Lee said.

With the Varsity Dance Team as busy as ever, they practice more than 5 dances in a time-span of two weeks preparing for homecoming week. Coach Amy VanWagene

n says that their secret to a successful performance is tons of organization and pre-planning.

“Homecoming week brings on a mixture of excitement and lots of stress with everything going on,” VanWagenen says, “I think the girls do a good job of balancing everything out.”

Practicing to perform is key for the dance team, they spent more than two hours a day preparing for this event. The team strives for their best.

“If there are no mistakes in practice, then there should be no mistakes on the field,” the Coach says.

When the ladies run out to perform during the Homecoming game, all of their peers are watching which adds an extra ounce of pressure to do well. Triana Lee says that along with lots of practicing, sometimes the best thing a dancer can do to deal with the stress of  performing is to not think about it or get psyched out.

“[Having your friends watching you] adds more pressure, but it’s good pressure,” Lee says,  “it’s good to know that there are people out there supporting you other than the ones that want you to mess up.”

Not only is the GHS Blue Crue a big support system to the dance team members, but the middle and elementary schools love to show their support as well. Especially second grader Marin, who won a raffle to be a part of the dance team for the entire homecoming week.

“We all bonded with her and she made the week more fun,” Lee says, “she gave us a nice little break during the chaos.”

Marin joined in the girls’ practice and learned a dance to perform with them during the Homecoming game. Although it gave them another thing to work on and prepare for, the members of dance team all say that the experience was definitely worth it.

“It was really cool to have the girls teach someone who is not their own age and finding different ways to teach and get through to a younger audience,” VanWagenen says, “the main goal was for her to have fun, and I think she definitely did.”

The dance team is a way to stay connected to the school in a fun way. When asked if they would recommend joining a club or sport like dance team to a friend, Lily Karlson, Fiona Mcmanus, and Triana Lee all gave a resounding yes.

“If you have the opportunity to become a part of your school, do it!” Mcmanus said.

As opposed to sitting at home doing nothing, the dancers agreed that they would much rather be doing the tough sport that they love with the people they love.

“Give it your all,” Lee says, “it’s only four years out of your life. If you dedicate your time and put your all into it, you can make it so much more than just a high school sport.”