After a season of submitting virtual entrees for virtual competitions, the Silver Stars got the chance to compete live on Monday, Jan. 25 at Lee’s Summit North Invitational. Juniors Hailey Mahoney and Anna Brazil recounted the day and its challenges.

Understandably, Mahoney prefers in-person competitions over virtual because she likes a one and done dance rather than refilming it multiple times.

“[I prefer] live 100 percent. I hate having to redo the dance three times in a row. I like the feeling of anticipating something then it being done. [At the competition] we put ourselves out there and did really well. That’s a really good feeling. Plus you can’t really see any of our faces in the videos,” Mahoney said.

Facial expressions or “faces” are critical aspects in performing and spectators cannot fully experience dance without them. However, the team still performed with their masks on according to Mahoney.

“We wore masks, but we had an option not to. We decided to wear masks just to stay safe, yet we still did faces because just because they can’t see our faces doesn’t mean they can’t feel the energy,” Mahoney said.

Brazil was nervous to get back into performing in person because the team only had one shot to impress the judges, but prefers it over virtual competitions. 

“I like competing live better because, although it may be more stressful since you only get one chance, the atmosphere is so much different. In-person competitions allow for us as a team to have more bonding time and really focus on the competition and performance. When filming for a competition it feels less real and the competition doesn’t feel like reality, so it was nice to get to compete in person,” Brazil said.

With the new COVID-19 restrictions, dancers are not allowed to touch each other during the dance, so choreography has been altered and overall different for this season. Mahoney found the change challenge.

“I was really excited to learn the new routines but obviously with the restrictions,” Money said, “we’re not allowed to touch at all. So the dances just kind of feel weird.”

While the competition was held in person the awards were presented virtually. Brazil was happy with the results of the team.  

“Although the awards were virtual and we all watched awards from our own home, It felt awesome to place first with our jazz routine. Though the second placement for pom was a bit of a bummer since we felt so confident in our routine. Overall, we were able to leave the competition proud of how we performed,” Brazil said.

Mahoney was happy to finally get the feeling of normalcy during the crazy season and have some bonding time with the team. 

“We had our team breakfast, which we always have before competitions. One of the moms made us breakfast burritos. Then we got to ride a bus for the first time all season, so that was also very exciting. I think everyone was just really excited. The day wasn’t what we expected, but everyone was excited to get back in person because we create so many memories at the competitions,” Mahoney said.