Contest season is underway for the Red Rhythm dance team as they prepare to perform for their first competition on Feb. 21st at Independence High School.

“[Contest season] is important because it’s the season where it’s really goal-heavy, it’s an opportunity for the girls to set a goal together and then work towards that goal, and try to achieve it,” director Nicole Nothe said. “It’s a traditional season that everyone does. The most important thing is the growth [that] the team does in a short amount of time.”

Red Rhythm is working on multiple team dances for contest season, consisting of pom, military, and novelty.

“Pom and military are usually the more traditional dances we do,” first lieutenant and senior Camorra Clark said. “Novelty is a new style that we are trying this year.”

In addition to the team dances, the four dance officers will be performing three more routines: a jazz, lyrical, and contemporary dance.

“These are important because we get the opportunity to tell such a big story, but with only four dancers,” Clark said. “It is definitely a challenge, but it is very fun and so enjoyable to compete and perform.”

Preparing for contest season, there are challenges that can arise.

“Specifically, this year, the bad weather created a situation where we lost some practices, we’re having to try to catch up speed,” Nothe said. “And also, this is the season when people get sick, too. So people in and out, it’s just trying to be the most prepared we can for contest day.”

Despite the ongoing conflicts, contest season is progressing well for freshman Hadley Chandler.

“We’ve just performed two of our routines at a basketball game, pom and military,” Chandler said. “We’ve just been working on cleaning it, and making sure everyone’s in unison, everybody knows it really well, everyone’s super sharp and confident in the dance.”