It’s finally the time of year when the Silver Stars put away their pom poms and begin to vigorously rehearse their intricate competition dances. Because competition season is upon them, the team is working hard in practice to perfect their routines.

“The Silver Stars have grown so much, they’re working so hard,” Silver Star director Emily Davis said. “We start off football season with doing pom and streaming dances and things like that and now we’re getting into so much technical work.”

The team will compete at various locations in the coming weeks, including trips to San Marcos and even one in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

“We compete at Westwood High School and then we compete at Texas State and then over spring break we compete for nationals in Hawaii,” junior Olivia Hanna said.

The girls compete in multiple categories, and are always placed in the largest divisions for their competition dances because of the school size.

“Your division is based on how big your team is and how many people there are, so we’re usually in the largest category because it’s the 50 [dancers] and over category,” Hanna said. “We do jazz, contemporary, hip hop, kick, and then we have companies. They’re much smaller and the more elite teams and that’s jazz company and hip hop company and then we have a dance where just the seniors dance.”

They have picked out certain songs in an effort to have the best choreography possible.

“Our theme this year for Silver Stars and for spring show, is ‘Comic Book’,” Hanna said. “ A lot of our songs have to do with a hero and a villain and like other things like that, so our team jazz dance is a remix of the song ’Holding out for a Hero’. We have a lot of songs that go around that theme, like sad songs and pop songs and we do Beyonce for one of the two.”

They even have professional choreographers work on the dances with them because the competition pieces are different than the other dances they do.

“We integrate competition style dance into the Spring show as well as adding other dances to that,” junior Savannah Savoy said. “For competition dances we have choreographers come in and they choreograph routines for us. Field routines we all learn and they’re kind of simple, they’re more for the pizazz and the wow-factor on the field, but competition is a little bit more tough to clean and polish and a has a little bit harder choreography”

The girls spend a tremendous amount of time perfecting the choreography under Davis and new director Leanne Bilnoski.

“The Silver Stars practice about three hours a day during competition season,” Davis said. “We go over to the Burger stadium gym and we practice from 7-9:30 a.m. and then at our school we practice from 7-10 a.m. Mondays and Fridays”

Thanks to Bilnoski, the competition dance choreography has been exceptionally better than in the past.

“We did gain a new director so we have different aspects because she’s a bit more technical than the last one,” Savoy said. “She integrates a lot more cleaning and polishing and harder choreography. We’ve grown as a team I think as well because every year people leave and people come so over the year we get together and bond so it’s kind of a team effort.”

According to the team’s directors, the Silver Stars’ hard work has been improving their dances.

“They’re technique and their skill sets are really starting to shine and especially in competition season; we get to see what limit they can take it to,” Davis said. “They’re doing such a great job and working so hard.”

They held a pre-competition showcase for extra practice and a chance to let their family and friends see them without having to spend an excessive amount of time at the girls’ actual competition.

“We’ve been cleaning and cleaning and cleaning our dances so that they look good because we have a showcase February; first here at Bowie for just family and friends who want to come so yeah there’s a lot of practicing,” Hanna said.

One of the downsides of the competitions is that the days are very long.

“We get up super early,’’ Hanna said. “Competitions for drill teams only are one day so I usually get up around like 4:45 in the morning and be at whatever school were going to by six a.m. and then awards end at midnight so we don’t get home until late.”

Even though the days are very long and hard, the girls have enjoyed their past experiences at competitions.

“There are sometimes mishaps like costume malfunctions, and dance malfunctions like forgetting.” Savoy said. “But it’s also super fun because you get to spend the day with your friends and you get to mess around and dance.”

Considering how hard the team practices, it is safe to say that the Silver Stars have a real shot at winning this year.

“We’re a little behind but, our dances are pretty good this year and I think we can do really well, we just need to practice a little more,” Hanna said. “We have a strong team this year and our new director is great. She knows what she’s doing so yeah I think we’re going to do pretty good.”

Even though the girls work tirelessly together, they wouldn’t change the experience for anything.

“This is a passion of mine, I like dancing and I like being together with the people that I spend most of my time with,” Savoy said. “The girls are kinda like sisters to me because I spend every morning with them so we’ve grown close over the years and it’s just fun to dance and be around people that you love.”