Students aren’t officially back at school yet, but a few of the school programs have started preparing for football season, with the Red Rhythm dance team one of them. From 6:30 – 8:00 a.m. on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings, the drill team practices in the band practice lot for their upcoming performances. 

“We’re checking temperatures when our members enter the practice space as well as filling out a form with questions regarding any symptoms students have been experiencing or students being present around someone that had COVID and those questions,” Red Rhythm director Nicole Nothe said. “Secondly the directors wear face shields and doublelift masks and gloves and are disinfecting all the equipment after each practice.” 

Dancers must also follow certain policies to maintain social distancing each practice.

“We set up our practices where teams enter and exit one group at a time,” Nothe said. “We also keep our dancers in groupings with 30 feet spacing between each group and four yards between each dancer.”

Having to follow such protocols has brought up some challenges for the directors, but it hasn‘t slowed down the team’s overall progress.

“It does take the directors about 45 minutes to set up each morning for practice with all the COVID set up we have to do,” assistant director Sarah Cadungung said via email. “But we have gotten faster with our setup over the two weeks and I feel that practices have been running smoothly and been productive.”

Considering every member has to practice social distancing, the team’s social officers have faced a few difficulties in regards to team bonding.

“Not every member of Red Rhythm comes to in-person practices, so because the team is divided, in a way, by in person and virtual, it is hard to make a bond with each person and together as a team,” RR social officer Caroline Moore said. “So team building games are looking different now, and it is a little more challenging, so we are just having to be a little more creative.” 

Choosing to not attend in-person practices, virtual rehearsals present some challenges for senior line member and social officer Alice Cai. 

“There are some difficulties like communication because we’re dancing through a screen,” Cai said. “When you have a question it feels a bit awkward because you’re in a silent area and you don’t want to disturb other people in the house, so we usually just text our officers afterwards if we have any questions.”

Because of the new limitations, the team has had to adjust to a few changes to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

“We may not be changing formations like we have in the past, but I think it’s just going to look a little bit different in regards to the shapes that we make on the football field,” Nothe said. “I am hopeful that we will be able to perform and I think our performances will be just as strong as in years past.”