To kick off competition season, Red Rhythm performed at the basketball games Tuesday night for the first time in front of an audience since football season.

“For football season it’s more of our fun season for our friends and family but as we get into contest season, the crowds get bigger and the nerves grow as well,” senior Karley Dykes said. “The stakes are a little bit higher.”

Taking three team dances to upcoming competitions including military, pom, and kick, Red Rhythm came ready with a newly created routine for the boys’ basketball halftime.

“Pom is one of the most competitive categories,” Red Rhythm Director Nicole Nothe said. “Every team pretty much brings a pom to competition so kind of watching it and assessing it is just fine tuning things. Fine tuning technique, fine tuning the level of showmanship that they need to deliver to the judges.”

As well as the practice for Red Rhythm, their performance attracts a new audience to the basketball games, as students and parents are eager to see them perform.

“They add more energy into the stands,” senior Halle Birckelbaw said. “It gets more people here because they want to see them perform so then there is more people to cheer on the basketball team as well.”

Preparing to perform their most difficult routine, pom, the girls used the night as a dress rehearsal for the North Dallas Showcase and Danceline competitions later this year.

“It’s setting up for the season,” junior Mallory Kalka said. “This is like a practice run before we go to contest. I get so nervous when I’m up there. That’s all I think about. It’s nerve wracking if you mess up and this is the practice run so you want to do good the first time of course.”