I had a feeling so peculiar, that this pain wouldn’t be for evermore…

In the drill team, dancers work the entire school year with very rare breaks. Spring is a time for new beginnings and the Sweethearts will conclude their Taylor Swift-themed season with the annual spring show on April 27 at 7 p.m. in the Performing Arts Center. 

“I came up with the Taylor Swift theme for the whole year as my tryout for my senior year as President Social Officer,” senior Savannah Moore said. “Once I got the position myself, Trotter, and the other socials decided to use Taylor Swift as our yearly theme and incorporate it throughout everything. I thought it would be an extremely versatile theme and something that everyone would enjoy as most of us are big Swifties.”

Having a theme for competition season is common, but a theme being Taylor Swift is unique. 

“You always want to be the team that stands out at competition,” Sweethearts director Kaylee Trotter said. “And we stood out with all our music being Taylor Swift. We got several compliments from judges, directors, teams, and parents from other schools about our music and the dynamic elements we included to accent it.”

Every dancer grows in their own way and by having variety in the dance styles, the Sweethearts grew together as a team. 

“I don’t think it was the fact that we were dancing to Taylor Swift songs that helped me grow as a dancer mostly because I’m not a Taylor Swift fan,” sophomore Annabell Smith-Grimm said. “But more so just the variety in the style of dances that we did that helped me become more well-rounded in different genres of dances.”

All of the routines performed exceptionally well at all three of the competitions the Sweethearts traveled to. 

“I was really proud of how the girls performed at all three of our competitions this season,” Trotter said. “We took on the challenge of competing with four team routines this year and picked some of the most challenging styles to compete with. We were blown away when receiving several judges’ awards for our technique, precision, choreography, and overall performance.”

Finishing off a senior season of dance is sometimes emotional for the dancers who have spent four years working toward success. When the dances are to songs the dancers are tied to in so many different ways, the moments become even more poignant.

“My favorite dance is our contemporary routine which is to evermore by Taylor Swift,” Moore said. “I will never forget crying while walking on, dancing, and walking off because that was the last dance of the day at nationals, and my last time ever competing because I’m a senior. It was such a surreal moment, and I got to end my time competing as a Sweetheart with one of my favorite songs which was really special for me.”