The football field lights blind the Mercy Varsity Dance (MVD) girls as they jog to the middle of the field. They strike their starting positions, anxiously waiting for the music to start. All eyes are on them. The first beats of the song ring through the speakers. It’s go time. As spectators watch, it seems so easy for the girls to the dance in unison, hitting their moves at the perfect time, but the team has put in many hours and days of work to perfect their performance.
MVD started their season with a dance camp at Oakland Univ., spending a weekend working together, and with other dance teams to build on their skills. The camp gave the girls a great bonding opportunity and they grew very close, leading to a great start and steady foundation of the season.

During the first weeks and days working together, one thing the girls highlighted was team bonding, joining together to work towards their goals. During their team camp, the girls stayed in separate rooms but by the last day, they had become extremely close.

“We all had our own separate rooms, the upper class men roomed with the freshmen,” co-captain Calla Place said. “By the end of it, we were all really close and we moved all our mattresses into each other’s rooms.”

In August, the girls starting regular practices at Mercy, working on building choreography and working on their overall performance. Through August and Sept., the team built their choreography, creating a routine to be used throughout the season.

As Oct. and Nov. near, the nine girls on the dance team work together to critique and perfect their dances. With many big events coming up for them, they want to be able to perform to the absolute best of their ability. When they come into the gym to practice, the space is filled with hard work and good energy.

The team is performing at the Orchard Lake St. Mary’s Homecoming game on Sept. 28, and has their big competition in Nov. With so many critical events coming, the team is working even harder to nail every position, every move, and every beat of their routine.

Co-captain Place and captain Avery Ellis have been working very hard to get the choreography and performance where it needs to be before their big events.

“We have to get all our choreography down for all our competitions and games,” Place said. “It’s pretty much go time from here on out.”