The Flames dance team placed first in all four dances they competed with and took first overall in their category at the American Dance/Drill Team competition at East View High School Feb 22.
“So far this competition season has gone better than we could have hoped for,” Flames colonel Mia Bazaldua said. “The team has been working hard during practices and pushing to improve everyday.”
The Flames have been preparing for competition since November, with practice everyday Monday through Friday from 9th period to 5:30 p.m.
“Our practices consist of technique drills, as well as us cleaning our routines to make sure everyone is doing the same thing in the routine,” Bazaldua said. “We put a lot of work into the routines to make sure they are ready to compete with.”
The Flames compete with a total of four routines in pom, modern, hip hop and jazz styles. Coaches pick music, choreographers and costumes. The choreographers share their image and concepts with the coach and the final dance becomes a combination of both of their perspectives.
“Each of our routines are placed into a genre, and each routine competes against other routines within that genre, performed by schools in the same division,” Flames director Jana Crawford said. “Then, all routines in respective divisions are compiled together for a trophy amongst the division.”
A typical competition lasts a full day starting from around 9 a.m. and ending at about 10 p.m. Different routines are performed during varying time slots. In the time in between performances, dancers practice choreography and prepare themselves to perform.
“To prepare myself mentally, I usually try to separate myself from the team so that I am able to focus and get in the right mindset,” Bazaldua said. “To prepare myself physically I work on techniques we have in our routines.”
The team hosted a dance competition at the high school for the first time Feb 15.
“Hosting was hectic, but we loved it,” Crawford said. “It was nice to be able to bring so many people into Lampasas. We are hoping that if we continue to host contests in the future we can get a larger turnout!”
The Flames use competition season as an opportunity to focus on themselves and truly show off what competitive dance trains for, rather than football season which is focused on the basics of performance.
“I have loved this year’s competition season,” Crawford said. “This is the most driven team I have worked with, so far. They are putting in so much work in their own free time and are truly carrying their individual responsibilities with so much weight for the team’s effort!”
