The members of the Silver Stars Dance Team have a change on their schedule: their Blue One class. As of this year, dance team members have a practice during this block, qualifying them to compete at the national level.

While they are still required to attend morning and evening practice, the extra 84 minutes every other day allows dancers to work on drills with more depth than before. Although the workload has increased, junior Bella Line appreciates the extra practice time.

“We don’t have to wake up as early, which is nice,” Line said. “Instead of getting the gym for the full practices, we have to go into the Commons for part of it. So that’s kind of different, kind of stressful, because we have to get so much done from 6:30 a.m. to [9].”

Senior Abby Sutton recognizes the advantages of more practice, but is not thrilled about the B1 practice time.

“We get a lot done, but it’s really tiring,” Sutton said. “It sucks having to practice every other day, and practicing 2 and a half hours in the morning before going to school.”

This extra practice comes at just the right time, as the Silver Stars are preparing to compete at the national level. “Nationals,” as the dancers call it, is the National Dance Alliance’s high school competition from March 2-4, 2018. It will be held in Orlando, Florida.

Sutton says the team is ready to compete.

“All our friends go to Nationals, the surrounding dance teams, and we feel like we could do well,” Sutton said. “So, we wanted to challenge ourselves.”

Similarly, Line is looking forward to competing at the next level.

“It’s exciting because we’ve never gotten the chance to go to Nationals, but stressful at the same time,” Line said. “Thinking about the practices ahead, it’s going to be absolutely insane for us.”

Competing at a national tournament means more expense, so the Silver Stars have been busy with fundraising to help cover costs.

“We’ve done a Snap! Raise, and we’re selling t-shirts, jackets and stadium chairs,” Line said. “We did the 50-50 raffle, car washes and a lakeside clean-up a couple times. ”

Sutton explained that the Snap! Raise is an online fundraising site where people can donate any amount, with the team’s goal being $3,000. As of today, the team has raised $2,385.

As for now, the team is taking it one day at a time.

“Right now we’re working on football game dances, half time dances, sidelines, cleaning and learning new material,” Line said. “Our [current] dance is our homecoming hip hop, and that was choreographed by [seniors] Emmy Bidnick and Emma Barge. After that, we have a hip-hop routine that some of us learned at our camp in St. Louis called ‘Turbulence.’”

The Silver Stars will continue to perform at the football games, and have their first competition at the KC Classic on Saturday, Dec. 9 at Liberty High School, in Liberty, Missouri.