Step team brings new life to pep-rallies

The step team opens up for  the Cedar Hill pep rally. The team started up this year and has become a regular performance group at school events. (Karla Estrada photo)
The step team opens up for the Cedar Hill pep rally. The team started up this year and has become a regular performance group at school events. (Karla Estrada photo)

When they walk onto the court, the crowd’s dull roar is ignited into a full fledged scream. They walk neatly, hands behind their back, with vacant expressions. The crowd has all the enthusiasm they need. With music in the background they begin with one perfectly synchronized step, and take the enthusiasm back from the crowd.

There is a new step team at Duncanville High School that has caused a lot of excitement since their debut performance at a football pep rally.

“We’re just alive you can see that we’re full of energy all the time,” freshman Andre Mitchell said.

Since that first performance, they’ve been thought of as a fun team that really gets pep rallies going. Team members said a lot of hardwork and sweat go into preparing for the exciting performances they do.

“It was hours of preparation and continuous commitment to what we had to do,” sophomore Traylon Bradley said.

Some members say they enjoy being part of the step team because of the synchronization they have and the way they have all improved together.

“My favorite part of being on the team is seeing everybody grow,” junior Amarion James said. “You getting the step by yourself is pretty cool but when everybody got it and everyone is on cue it’s what makes the step team work.”

Others enjoy the closeness that has come about from working as a team.

“We’ve gotten a lot better at learning steps together and we’ve become a family,” junior Nazara Jackson said.

Since they’ve had tryouts all the members agree that they’ve gotten better and are ready to learn harder things.

“We have more difficult steps now and at try outs we had an easy step so we get to challenge ourselves now,” senior Tyra Gray said.

Although they’ve become confident in their steps and performance they still get those pre performance jitters, until they begin.

“When we’re out there performing I’m nervous before the performing but during the performance it’s like a zone and you just feed off of the crowd,” James said. “I love it.”

Many team members agree that they would like to begin preparing and competing, and hope that is what is to come in the near future for them.

“Hopefully in the future we can go to good competitions, and people will know us like they know our football team and our basketball team,” freshman Alexis Escalante said.

All the members have different reasons that they were interested in joining the step team. Some said they did it for the glory; others did it because they wanted a fun way to express themselves.

“I really loved it, and my whole life I’ve been dancing,” senior Tyra Gray said. “I just wanted to put what I love into school spirit.”

Overall, the step team loves their unity and their ability to come together with one goal and accomplish it.

“I love to step and I love my friends,” junior Nazara Jackson said. “So being able to step with them and knowing that they also love stepping is amazing.”