It is officially the most exciting time of the year for Northside’s Poms team. With the Poms season in full swing, the dancers continue to show off their new routine at basketball games. The team is determined to keep giving it their all at competitions.

In only a few days, the team will attend the City Competition, the next level of competition until the state championships.

The First Competition 

The Northside Poms team competed in their first competition on November 26 at Oak Forest High School. They debuted their new choreography in front of a panel of judges and around 45 other teams.

Being able to take part in a competition so early in the season this year is unusual. In past years, they didn’t get a chance to attend any competitions before the City and Sectional levels. This meant the team did not have any prior feedback from judges and did not have an opportunity to improve. 

Mrs. Martha Mulligan, Northside’s Poms Coach, emphasized, “It’s really helpful to have judges feedback on the routine early in the season. We are learning from that feedback…This year we have the time to make those changes [before sectionals] and make the routine not just better but harder!”

Working for First Place 

The Poms team wasted no time this year putting in hard work and making their performance look as perfect as possible. Mirabel Dahlquist, Poms co-captain explains, “We spent two weeks learning all of the choreography, and then focused on cleaning it up and making it look cohesive.”

The Northside Poms routine is choreographed entirely by captains Mirabel Daqluist and Vicki Lee, with help from coach Mrs. Mulligan and other dancers. This adds a sense of personality and uniqueness to the performance.

The competition atmosphere can be described as exciting and nerve-wracking, according to the dancers. Performing is the most exhilarating part of the day, but the very end of competitions is when the judges announce the winners.

Fighting to win at competitions might not look exactly as one would expect. Most other schools’ routines actually do not use the same Poms-style of dance as Northside does. Mirabel went on to state, “There are only about five other schools that do a Poms-style team. Most do contemporary, jazz, or modern…which makes it really exciting to see all of the unique routines.” Of course, none of this stops the team from placing in the top teams at numerous competitions. 

Being in the spotlight can be especially exhilarating for new members of the Poms team, like freshman Margot Sherman (Adv. 702). Margot states, “This was my first time performing with a high school team, and my first time doing Poms-style choreography. It was definitely a little different from other styles of dance that I have done.” Margot continues to explain, “Competitions are actually a really fun experience, even though we usually have to wake up at 5:30.”

On the morning of the competitions, the dancers get into their costumes, do their hair and makeup, and have time to practice their routine in their assigned section of the building. Once it is the team’s time to perform in front of the judges, they give it their all. They are scored on sharpness, timing, facials, and overall skill. 

Season Goals

As the season progresses, the dancers strive to clean up their moves and work to improve their skills on both team and individual levels. Margot elaborates on this: “Our team goals are definitely to win the city championship, make it to sectionals, and hopefully make it all the way to state!”

The critiques and scores they got this past weekend at Sectionals are crucial to note in order for the team to prepare for the City and State competitions. This year, the city championships were postponed until after sectionals due to inclement weather. Northside Poms has won the city championships for the past four years, and they expect nothing less moving forward.