Twirling Club hosted an after-school practice covering eight-count choreography and practice drills with batons and ribbons on Dec. 18 in the cafeteria.

Their practice focused on the fundamentals with the baton and moving expressively during choreography. Afterwards, twirlers moved on to aerial tricks with the baton before ending off with attaching ribbons to do high kicks.

Senior and vice president Ellisa Shou said the club hopes to perform in the school talent show or the Black Student Association performance in the future.

“We’re going to practice nailing all our basic skills and also getting more advanced skills,” Shou said. “Hopefully we’ll have three or four members perform, and we’re going to feature marching eight-counts. If we can do that, we’re going to try to have a longer performance to showcase the talent for the school.”

Shou started twirling her freshman year when she met the club’s president Kayla Horn and said the club fosters a community where people can learn new skills while still having fun.

“It’s not always just about how good you are at twirling,” Shou said. “There’s still achievements or goals you can hit when you’re practicing twirling, but it’s also a fun space to hang out with your peers in school and has more opportunities without pressure.”

Sophomore Haddas’ah Sims has been a member of the club for two years and hopes to take away new skills through the leadership needed for practices.

“The people who lead us, Kayla and Ellisa, they’re really skilled,” Sims said. “I thought they were part of the marching band, where you twirl and stuff, but then I was like, ‘Oh, they just kind of learned this themselves,’ so the self-learning part was really amazing.”

Sims describes twirling in the club as “so much fun,” and her favorite skill to practice is figure 8s — twirling the baton using wrist movement.

“I feel alive,” Sims said. “I do twirling for fun, but it’s the people that I got to meet here that are special.”

For more information on future meetings, join the Remind @bhs-twirl or follow their Instagram @bhs_twirling_club.

Gallery • 3 Photos

Alav Madani

Sophomore Haddas'ah Sims catches the baton with her hand as she practices her throwing. "I hate getting hit on the head by the stick," Sims said. "That's probably the worst part about practice." As part of a drill, twirlers tossed batons backwards without looking to another person who would be there to catch it.