Week 13

I will be telling the story about observing tryouts.

Tryouts for the Rhythmette dance team are held at the end of April sometimes early May. Tryouts are a two day process with many emotions wrapped along in those two days. As I arrived for tryouts the girls participating in this stressful event were on the floor stretching along with the other girls both old members and future hopeful members. Each dancer is given a piece of paper with a number on it which is pinned to their shirt. This number is what the judges use to pick the team members for the next year. The old members also have to re tryout. After the girls were done stretching I noticed some of the looks of their faces as if they wanted to just run and hide and not go through with this experience, possibly because of their nerves, I was not too sure. The first day the girls were drilled with doing kicks, kick lines, turns, both single and double, and at the very end of the day they were taught a short, quick, somewhat easy dance. Many of them seemed to be catching on by the end of that day. The next day they all came back to the cafeteria to finish their second day of tryouts. The day started off with stretching, then jumped straight into the most intense part of the whole process. The girls were split into groups of four and had to perform the dance they had learned in that group in the cafeteria with the music with just their group and no other help at all, while being watched intensely by the judges. After groups were done performing and walking out of the cafeteria with the other girls I saw a mix of emotions. Some girls said they felt like they did their best, others felt as if they were just too nervous to perform at their best. I felt bad for them, because I remember that pressure behind tryouts. After all of the groups are done performing in front of the judges, the judges get together for about 15 to 20 minutes to make their final decision about who will be on the next year's Rhythmette dance team. Once the judges have reached their decision, the girls are handed a letter that is stapled closed with their number on the front of it. They are told this will tell them whether or not they made the team, and they are instructed not to open it until after they have left the building. Many girls simply couldn't wait that long. After they were opening their letters outside of the cafeteria I saw a whole sprawl of different emotions, some were extremely happy and jumping up and down, others were crying, some were okay with the results, and some were very mad. The next day the new team met and congratulated everyone for making the team.