“The greatest feeling a dancer can have is walking off the performance floor and feeling confident and excited about that performance,” Sapphires coach Maggie Willis said.

The LHS Sapphires have been putting in work all season to represent our school to their best potential at their competitions each year. Their latest was Nationals where they practiced long hard hours to prepare for their trip to Orlando Florida.

“[Practices before Nationals] were very tiring to say the least, we kept doing our routines over and over, cleaning them to make sure we had them perfect for competition,” sophomore Olivia Book said. “But in the end it felt awesome, it felt like all the hard practices finally paid off.”

Not only were the practices tiring, but stressful as well because the team had to make changes from regional competition to nationals.

“Practices before nationals were definitely intense. We only had a few days to alter things from regionals to nationals, so we all had to give 110% for sure,” junior Jessie Fullinwider said.

In Orlando, the girls danced their way through prelims and advanced to finals for Large Varsity Jazz where they preformed their beloved Jazz routine, God Bless America.

“God Bless America is so much fun to do because you can just let go of all your emotions and put them into the dance,” senior Lakie Spencer said.

Performing on the National stage would seem to be extremely nerve wracking, but the Sapphires were prepared for this opportunity.

“The atmosphere at Nationals is extremely chaotic, but so much fun,” Fullinwider said. “Before stepping on stage, I have my own little prayers I like to say to myself, after that there really isn’t much time to be nervous, the adrenalin kicks in and then before you know it, it’s time to go.”

The Sapphires’ work and dedication paid off in the end when the girls placed eighth in the Nation for finals.

“When you’re on stage walking out of the castle it is a feeling like no other because you have all these people right in front of you and all these lights then as soon as the music comes on you feel right at home as if you’re dancing on the gym floor at LHS,” Book said.

After the stress was over from competing the Sapphires got time to relax and enjoy bonding time at Hollywood Studios, Epcot, Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, and Downtown Disney.

“The trip was just awesome, we got a lot of free time to just spend time together and hang out, we got to go to the parks and then on competition days we got our minds in it and just danced the best we could and that felt amazing knowing we left it all on the floor,” Spencer said.

The Sapphires have dedicated months to perfecting their performances and their season is not over yet. The Sapphires will be competing in State at the end of this month and have a couple more game performances. Yet, after all the hard work put into competing, the LHS dance team is one big family at the end of the day.

“My favorite part about being a Sapphire is getting to do what I love with amazing girls,” Spencer said. “The bond that we make from spending so much time together and seeing how far we have come is an incredible experience.”