The sounds of cheering, music, and the shuffling of pom poms filled Huntley High school’s east gym. It was Dec. 14 and 87 dance routines had been performed on this big day:  the Huntley Winter Invitational.Our JV and varsity Poms team performed four times, all showing great energy and enthusiasm.

JV performed first with Open Poms at 10:33 and everything went smoothly. “Their facials were great and the new parts were sharp,” said coach Kristen Maggiore.

At 11:45, the varsity team also did Open Poms. They gave it their all and their performance was perfect.

“It was probably the best we’ve ever done. Fabulous,” said senior Jenna Strasser.

After an hour of lunch break and more performances, 3:11 finally rolled around and it was time to start the second half of the competition. Dances included hip hop, jazz, lyrical, and contemporary.

With detailed face paint and distressed leggings, JV’s performance was very clean and brought the feel of a circus into the gym atmosphere. Varsity rocked their hot pink tutus and Vans sneakers and their performance was very bright and fun, combining hip hop and ballet.

“They did very good,” said Coach Chrissy Amling.

After the boys of Dance Force Studios brought the competition to an end, all the teams celebrated by jamming out to their favorite songs- and even started a giant conga line before the winners were announced.

Everyone was nervous and hearts were pounding as each team hoped to hear their name.

After a long day of hard work and anticipation, Huntley’s JV dance team placed 1st in hip hop and second in poms and varsity took first in poms and third in hip hop.

The girls screamed and cheered as they found out they were going to state and both coaches were definitely relieved.

Congratulations to our dance team; we look forward to seeing all of you compete in March.