After dressing out into her black workout clothes, junior April Suarez, goes into the JV gym to practice the half time dance routine for homecoming with the rest of the Silver Spurs. After a couple of minutes of stretching, April breaks into groups with 4 other girls to practice the routine. They latch on to each other’s shoulders in a row to do several high kicks in different directions, in hopes to master the dance moves before the big night. The dance lieutenant observes the girls and helps them fix some moves and gives them some advice, then they run the routine one last time.
After 30 minutes of straight dancing, the Drill Team Director Brooke Parlin calls the girls to the center of the room and asks if anybody wants to audition for the special routine that only a couple of girls will have the privilege of doing. April excuses herself from the group and bravely makes her way to the center of the gym to audition with some of her team members. The music starts and she tries her best. After she shows off her moves to the routine, she ends the dance kneeled with one knee on the ground and her elbow on the other knee. She then makes her way to the judges to immediately get her results. She has the part and will be in the special routine.
“It’s all about time management,” Suarez said.
After she gets out of practice at 4:15 PM every day, she still has to go and do homework. Four of five days of the week are dedicated to practice for drill team and Fridays are dedicated to the games. Being a Silver Spur has put a lot of responsibility and pressure on her life, so the social life has to wait for the weekends.
The next day, April returns to the JV room. She begins to practice the special routine; kicking her feet up in the air like the Rockets she practices over and over again, trying to perfect every one of her moves. She takes a wrong step, twisting her ankle and toes. This injury immediately disqualifies her from dancing at the homecoming game and from the special dance she had practiced so hard to earn a place for.
“My fears are failing and not getting to perform with the team, because then my hard work in dancing has no point,” Suarez said.
Although she will not be dancing at the homecoming game, she still plans to show up at the game and support her team and her school.
“You have to be strong, physically and emotionally to be a dancer, but in the end it’s all worth it,” Suarez said.
