The Blazerettes and their coaches are heading to Orlando, Florida for Nationals for the first time in five years. The dancers will be gone from March 3 through March 8. 

“We will be [traveling by plane],” Blazerette coach Samantha Coyan said. “We are meeting at the school at 2 a.m. Thursday morning, and then our flight is at 5:20 a.m.”

The team brought in outside help this year to teach them their dances and prepare them for Nationals.

 “Our choreographers are a duo called Creative Force Choreography,” Coyan said. “Their names are Tara and Jay and they came this past summer to teach the routines.”

The Blazerettes like freshman Hayley Kessler have enjoyed working with the duo.

“They are some of the best choreographers we’ve ever had,” Kessler said.

Throughout the school year, the dancers have sent their choreographers videos of them performing the routines, but Tara and Jay didn’t get to see the cleaned dances live until the send-off on Monday, February 28.

“[During] the last local competition we went to, we were one of the top in our category for our pom routine and we were invited to perform in the exhibition routine,” Coyan said. “Knowing how well we did at that competition, I think has really opened up the girls’ minds and they are pumped up to go to Nationals.”

Being the first time any of the girls have traveled to Nationals, there has been some anxiety. 

“I’m excited and nervous because there’s more than thirty teams in our category,” Kessler said. 

The girls have been hard at work preparing for the competition, adding extra last-minute practices. Spending so much time with one another, they have created a united team relationship.

“We have a team chant we end every practice with, we scream it and say it really fast,” Coyan said. 

Their morale-boosting chant, which says “Believe, belong, be trained, be strong,” is something the girls find inspiring and motivating.

“Those are the words we try to go by,” Coyan said.

The girls will be competing in the medium varsity division against 36 other teams. Of those, 23 teams will move on to finals. 

“I think we will definitely make it into finals and hopefully place in the top ten,” Coyan said.