Either in the gym or on Main St., Belles can be seen stretching, drilling technique or running dances from 7 to 9 a.m. since January in preparation for February's month-long competition season.

The Belles drill team competes at district, regional and state dance competitions, as well as dance at football halftime shows and host their annual Spring Show. With three competitions — Marching Auxiliaries of America (MA), ShowTime and Miss Texas Dance — happening back to back in February, competition season is a “difficult but rewarding time of year,” according to junior and Historian Taylor Vondenstein.

“Competition season is definitely a stressful time where all the Belles dance together, competing against different dance teams in different schools,” Vondenstein said. “You give it your all, and it’s your chance to show off everything you've been doing in dance. Everything is put to that one moment to see how you measure up against every other district.”

With football season ending in November, Belles had “very little time” to prepare for their first competition on Feb. 7 since they started learning their three competition dances just the month prior. Nevertheless, senior and Secretary Sydney Nguyen is hopeful about this season.

“Between the end of football season and winter break, we were doing technique,” Nguyen said. “It sounds like a long time, but it felt like it went by really fast since football season was really busy for us too. We had a few weeks of break, but we just lost track of time.”

When it comes to learning new routines, there are three main steps: learning the routine, trying out for the dance and then perfecting the routine, a process also known as cleaning.

“Cleaning the dances is definitely the most important part of preparation,” Vondenstein said. “If your dance looks messy, then your team looks messy, and then you just don't want to perform and you don't look forward to competitions. But if you look great and you are confident in everything that you're doing, then you are going to have the best competition season, whether you place or not.”

Even though they started to learn dances late, Belles have gotten back on track to be ready for their first competition through the daily two-hour morning practices almost every day and practicing individually outside of school.

“I was nervous over winter break,” Nguyen said. “We had none of our dances finished, but now I think we've kind of buckled down. We've tried out for all the dances, and our dances are looking pretty clean, maybe because we just learned them too. You definitely have to spend more time outside of school practicing. But other than that, I'm excited, and I think we're gonna do great, because the team is so connected this year.”

This year, Belles’ first competition was the MA Dance Houston Invitational, held at Waltrip High School. For sophomore and Corporal Hailey Wong, MA is her favorite because it’s a competition specifically held for HISD dance teams.

“I like the MA one because I get to see Lanier, my middle school,” Wong said. “We also get to see eMotion, so I get to see the new dances. The performing part of the competition is my favorite. I just love being on the floor. But also seeing all my friends from other schools, competing with them, is a great feeling.”

This sentiment is echoed throughout the Belles, and the MA competition is a common favorite for the dancers, even for senior and Co-Colonel Devin Morris.

“My favorite competition is probably Walltrip, because it's such a wide age range, all the way from elementary schoolers to high school,” Morris said. “I know a lot of people, and I'm able to see my old middle school perform, and all my friends who go to different schools are all competing at the same competition. It's just really nice because it's very familiar. I've been going to that competition since middle school, so I feel very at home at Waltrip.”

The next two competitions are Miss Texas Dance State Competition at C.E. King High School and ShowTime International at Thomas Randle High School, taking place on Feb. 21 and Feb. 28. When it comes to competitions like these, teams need costumes and music as well as choreography.

“If you have a costume that makes you feel confident, and you love the music as well, if it's an upbeat song and you're wearing a flashy costume, you're gonna want to perform confidently and flashy,” Vondenstein said. “That’s just the way it is.”

But when it comes to acquiring those costumes, Morris has faced more challenges than usual. With 49 girls, varsity is the biggest it has ever been, resulting in a shortage of costumes. As a result, the Belles had to buy new costume sets with enough for the entire team.

“We had to order all new costumes this year,” Morris said. “There's been trouble shipping because of the weather, and it's been a little stressful. We're getting three completely new costumes for all of our dances this year, so it's fun that we get to not re-wear the old ones.”

At competition, Varsity and Junior Varsity (JV) Belles each perform three dances. The types of dances vary over the years, but this season, Varsity is doing Pom, Jazz and Kick routines, in which senior and Private Charlette Jefferson noticed a change in difficulty. The same routines will be performed at their Spring Show, following the theme of “IGNITE.”

“I think that the theme is really empowering,” Jefferson said. “With the dances, compared to the dances from last year, they’ve become more challenging, which is a good thing. Our pom is really fast, which is what I like about it. It's a really huge difference, but it's honestly been the best time of my life.”

Unlike past years, the kick and pom routines for Varsity were choreographed by an outside studio, with choreographers Stephanie Deskins (Director of the Maverick Belles) and Emily Wendt (Assistant Director of the Crimson Cavalettes), respectively.

“The dances definitely have harder technique,” Vondenstein said. “It's kind of the same technique, in a way, but we definitely have harder challenges, like faster choreography or different moves. There's a lot more turns, triples, a la secondes and a lot more jumps.”

Varsity’s jazz dance was choreographed by Belles Director Kara Townsend, who “enjoyed” all of their dances this year.

“Our team routines are extremely upbeat and exciting to watch,” Townsend said. “One of my favorite routines this season is our Varsity Pom. The dance is fast paced, high energy and an exciting challenge for the team. I have truly enjoyed working with everyone and watching the dancers grow and improve with each practice.”

Varsity has a range of difficulty with their team dances, with pom being the most selective and jazz being the easiest to get into.

“The audition process is definitely much harder than it has been in the past,” Morris said. “There's always one dance that the whole team is in, because the goal is for everyone to be in at least one dance. This year for pom, there were over 10 people not in it, which I think is the most that we've had during competition season.”

For JV, junior and Lieutenant Colonel Skylar Lew choreographed the pom and kick routines with Townsend and juniors and Captains Breah Scott and Ziah Newton. The captains are currently choreographing the novelty dance to be performed at the last two competitions. Freshman Kiran Bansal is “ready” to perform the JV dances.

“I’m definitely nervous, because I feel like our team could definitely benefit from some more practice,” Bansal said. “I'm also really excited because it's competition season, so I know it's going to be fun.”

Choreographing the JV novelty was a struggle for Newton, since this was her first time choreographing a dance for the team.

“It gets stressful because I have to consider what movement and choreography will look good for JV as a whole, not just one person, and how we can make the audience see the bigger picture,” Newton said. “I feel like JV is getting there. Of course, there's memory or choreography mistakes, but I feel like they know their dances, so we're gonna go into this strong for the next two competitions.”

After all the schools have performed their dances to the judges comes one of the best parts of competitions: awards.

“My favorite part of competition season is when we have all finished dancing, and we all get into our Belle sweatshirts,” Morris said. “We’re sitting together at awards, and everybody's really tired, but there's always food at competitions, so it's a nice time where everyone just feels really accomplished and the team as a whole is all together. ”

Competitions can last anywhere from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m., making it a long day for dancers. But for some, the experience extends beyond just the performances.

“My favorite part of competition is definitely the memories that you make,” Vondenstein said. “The dances are fun, but being away with your team for a whole 24 hours, weekends on end, it's just a different kind of connection that you can't really experience with anything else.”