Through the cold football game nights and the busy competition season, the grand finale of the drill team year has come. 2014 Spring Show for the HighSteppers will be on Thursday, May 8 and Friday, May 9. The theme of this year’s show will be “Puttin’ on the Ritz.”

“I chose that theme because Riley had seen it on the show So You Think You Can Dance,” director Kristi Robinson said. “We really liked the set up of the dance on the show and decided to do something similar for our opening number. Puttin’ on the Ritz was also also a good theme that would encompass several different styles of dance that we performed at competition.”

The theme of the performance is not the only change made to this year’s show. With a new director, Spring Show has panned out a little differently for the team.

“We made a few adjustments to this year’s show by tweaking a few traditions and hopefully making new ones,” captain Riley Madlock said. “We changed the choreography to the traditional finale, did away with the senior speeches at the end saying their goodbyes, added solos, took away grade level dances, and even added tap.”

However, these modifications would not have been possible without hard work and sweat. The girls have been putting in extra long hours after school to prepare for the big show nights.

“We have stayed everyday until 5 and sometimes 6 to practice for Spring Show,” junior Mary-Stewart Shores said. “It’s been really hard to stay positive every day knowing we have to practice late, but I know it will pay off when the show rolls around.”

For some of the seniors, this will be their last time to dance in front of a crowd. Because of this, they want to give it their all and make it the best performance of their drill team career.

“It feels really surreal for this to be my last time performing on the team,” senior Laura Davis said. “It seems like just yesterday I was a new girl who was nervous about her first ever drill team performance. I’m going to be really upset that it’s my last time ever to dance on a stage, and I’m going to bawl like a baby afterwards.”

It is not only an emotional night for the seniors, but for the rest of the team, as well. Many of the girls have developed close relationships with the graduating seniors and hate to say goodbye and dance with them for the last time.

“It’s bittersweet to perform the last show with these seniors,” sophomore Kaitlyn Krause said. “If I hadn’t have made drill team, I probably wouldn’t have ever met and become so close to these amazing girls. It’s sad to see them leave, but I know I’ll always keep in touch with them no matter where they go.”

At the end of the day, the ladies are excited to bring the year to a close and perform an unforgettable Spring Show. The HighSteppers expect for this year’s show to be better than ever before and encourage everyone to come out and see the performance.

“I think it will all turn out really well,” senior Lieutenant Kelsey Smith said. “All of the girls have worked so hard to make this an amazing show. I’m sad that it’s my last one, but I’m super excited for everyone to see what we’ve been working on.”