Competition season has begun for the Emerald Dazzlers, after this past weekend’s competition, there are two more performance days: Feb. 10 at Lebanon Trail and Feb. 24 in Weatherford. They will perform a Hip-Hop routine, Pom routine, Jazz routine and an officer contemporary jazz routine, along with solo routines.
“The songs for Hip-Hop are currently a Beyonce song, ‘America has a Problem,’ and the last one will be a surprise,” Dazzlers Coach Crystal Martinez said. “The Jazz is Madonna’s ‘Vogue’ with a remix of ‘Fame,’ and the Pom is ‘Primadonna Girl’ and ‘Material Girl.’”
Martinez said the Dazzlers are in the process of piecing together the routines, but once the first competition comes up, it will be a full picture.
“There are a lot of rookies, but the rookies are pushing and trying to just roll with the punches and taking up the challenges,” Martinez said.
Sophomore Brooklynn Beaver said the rookies have been improving since the beginning of the season and she can tell they have been working hard behind the scenes.
“I feel like most of our rookies have grown since the beginning because they were struggling at the beginning, but now they are getting more comfortable in their bodies and they are moving more flowy,” Beaver said.
The Dazzlers practice during fifth period and some Saturdays preparing for the competitions coming up. On performance days, they get to the school early morning to run through everything before packing up and moving to the competition site.
“A competition day for us is getting up at about 3 a.m., doing a full face of makeup, hair, and getting to the school about 6,” senior lieutenant Ryllon Farmer said. “We have about an hour to an hour and a half, sometimes two hours to run through all the dances, stretch, talk about anything that needs to be talked about. We then get all of our costumes and garment bags, load on the bus about 8 o’clock and head to our competition.”
Freshman rookie Raegan Holland said Dazzlers is fun, everyone gets along and it is a lot of work that pays off in the long run.
“We’ve overcome a lot,” Junior and captain Denali Rubio said. “Most of our team are rookies this year and we’ve had to teach them a lot but they are looking good.”
All the dances from the season will be performed again April 26 and 27, for the Dazzlers’ annual spring show.
