The Battle of the Bands

"Wake up ladies!" yelled Ms. Porter, our auxiliary coordinator. I slowly and reluctantly sat up from the bumpy, uncomfortable, two hour long bus ride. As I adjusted my eyes from my slumber, I noticed the others were slowly waking up from the long nap as well. Everyone was taking there time until Ms. Porter unsympathetically shrieked, "Five minutes!" So I put on my shiny gold head band, and straightened out the back of my glittery black and gold uniform. Then, I slid on my black leather dance shoes and draped my long flowing cape around me so the audience could not see my beautiful uniform until it was time. James Oliver High School's band and auxiliary was about to participate in the Battle of the Bands. This competition, which was held at Legion Field in Birmingham, Alabama brings bands from all over the country to compete against each other. It judges bands on style, creativity, energy and overall performance.

As I walked into the stadium with my fellow band and auxiliary members, a sense of fear overcame me. I was a member of the Jaguarettes, which is a dance team. We had been consistently practicing our routine day in and day out leading up to the competition, and we had the dance perfectly. However, the big day had finally arrived and I was beginning to feel uneasy. "What if I mess up?" I asked myself. "What is the others mess up?" I forced myself to release these thoughts from my head. I needed to clear my mind if I was going to put on a spectacular performance. Upon entering the field, we got word the we were the very next band to go on. My stomach dropped.

We lined up on the side of the football field and watched our band do their field show. As I stood there, I noticed how slick the grass was under my feet. I silently hoped to myself that neither my teammates nor I would trip up or fall. Our captain glanced over and noticed all of our nervous expressions. She then told us to smile, so we all tried our hardest to force a smile on our face. The band continued to perform, and it got closer and closer to our segment of the show. Before I knew it, they were lining up to play our song. My mouth suddenly became dry and goose bumps took over my body. It was finally time for our performance.

As the band began playing our feature, I tossed off my cape and danced into my spot on the field. I had to make sure every motion was perfect because I was right in the middle of the front row. So there I was hitting every move sharply and precisely, remembering to kick extremely high in the kick line and making the big finish I had just learned yesterday as powerful and dramatic as possible. I put every bit of energy in to the dance. We did great! No one even messed up. The applause echoed throughout the stadium. Afterward, we strutted to a new formation on the field to do the hype part of the show. The band played all the latest songs, and we did all the newest dances. The audience bellowed with excitement. The crowd loved us, but would the judges?

As we caught out breath and awaited our scores, the other bands encouraged their groups by screaming chants and dancing. So we did the same and I enjoyed it. I glanced around and saw everyone talking, laughing and eating snacks from the concession stand. That is when I realized that this event seemed more like a social gathering than a competition. The only thing that should matter is that everyone had fun. However, winning always make things ten times better.

Time passed and a man's loud voice boomed over the intercom, "Could a representative from each band report to the field?" It was finally time to hear the results and we were so excited. My heart started racing as they began to announce the winners of each award. However, each name they called out was not James Oliver High School. I was beginning to lose hope. We had sacrificed so much time practicing and now I thought we were not going to receive any reward. We worked so hard for it, it would be a shame to leave empty handed. Suddenly the announcer said, " And the award for best dance team goes to... James Oliver High School dance team!" I was so shocked! "Best dance team?" I asked myself. "Is he serious?" We all jumped up and cheered joyously. I was very happy and proud of myself and as well as my fellow team members. I didn't think we could do it, but we did and we were the best.

We were awarded a gigantic trophy that said "First Place Dance Team in the Double A Division. Our band was also honored as having the "Best Drum Majors" and "Best Percussion Section." This event left me feeling extremely exhilarated, accomplished and confident. Performing in front of huge crowds had always been a phobia of mine but I had now conquered and overcame it. I used to always second guess my talent. However, I have proved to myself that I have the ability to perform as a member of an award winning dance team.