Time off campus pushes performing arts tryouts at a later date
During their fall performance season, senior Emma Hancock dances during half time for Red Rhythm alongside her fellow dancers. Each spring, Red Rhythm, Cheer, and Colorgaurd typically host tryouts, but with current health concerns, these will be pushed to a later date.
March 25, 2020
For weeks, many students involved in performing sports and fine arts have been practicing routines in preparation for tryouts, which will determine teams for the 2020-2021 school year. Unfortunately, many of these athletes and coaches, including members of Colorguard, Cheer, and Red Rhythm are affected by the recent implementation of online school, as tryouts will be postponed until it is safe to return.
Stephanie Swartz, a freshman in Color Guard, is worried that this year’s season will be off to a slow start, especially with new members joining.
“I don’t think we’ll be able to start as early as our colorguard director would want us to,” Swartz said, “It really impacts our team as well because we are used to seeing each other everyday or every other day due to our rehearsals and now that we can’t, it puts a negative effect on the bond within all the people in colorguard. For me personally, I just miss all my close friends that I used to spend every day with.”
However, cheer coach Kandy Stevens is optimistic that this situation will allow the team to get more serious before the start of next season.
“I’m gonna say that this will have little impact on the start of our season,” Stevens said. “It may push back the dates, but we’re hard workers, so I think we’ll be up and running before the start of football season. We have also been working off the email list of candidate applications and the emails from the parent meeting to communicate information as soon as I receive it.”
Finishing off her first year of drill, Red Rhythm member Hannah Beeler also believes that in spite of the circumstances, her and fellow members of the team will succeed in preparing for their upcoming spring show by moving at their own pace.
“This time off will help RR members have an opportunity to work individually on our spring show dance and improve our technique, which I believe is sometimes more beneficial than working in a large group. Sure, many events leading up to the 2020-2021 season will be pushed back, but the team is really flexible and shouldn’t have trouble adapting.”
