The dance floor is polished, white boots can be heard throughout the athletic hall and the smell of turf is in the air. All of this can only mean one thing: Rosette football season is in full swing.

While football players are practicing, and band members are tuning their instruments, the Rosettes are preparing for Friday nights as well.

The Rosettes are ever-present at pep rallies and football games, ready with routines and weekly performances. How do the Rosettes prepare for these routines?

“You usually just have to clear your mind and realize you’re not going to get it all at once,” sophomore Melissa Lason said.

The girls say they have very packed schedules, and dancing takes up a lot of their time; they even spend time in the summer practicing.

“We went to line camp over the summer; it was 14 hours a day for four days,” junior Yzzy Smith said.

In addition to line camp in the summer, a camp in which the girls learn all the dances they will need, Rosettes also devote time to practicing during the school week. This includes their Rosette period, time after school and sometimes even weekends.

“We devote about two and a half hours every day, except Wednesdays, to practice,” freshman Katie Garlington said.  “In total it’s about 12 hours a week.”

According to Melissa, they learn every dance at line camp and then rehearse the routine the week they will be performing it.

With all these dances, there are many different techniques for learning and remembering them.

“I usually just go over it a couple times with friends or outside of practice,” Katie said.

Rosettes perform at both football games and pep rallies in the fall. They usually perform kick and jazz for their football routines and hip hop for pep rallies.

“Pep rallies are my favorite between the two,” Yzzy said.

Different kinds of dances are typically performed for different occasions. With most of the girls having previous dance experience, there is usually a type of dance that stands out the most to the individual dancer.

“My favorite dance that we do would probably be kick,” Katie said.

Rosettes have football games and pep rally performances, but they also have competition and the annual Spring Show later in the year.

“My favorite aspect of Rosettes is definitely Spring Show,” Melissa said.

In addition to dancing, according to junior Johanna Bevill, they have a test every year after tryouts to learn everyone’s name. Johanna said they grow close because of all the time they spend together.

“I love Rosettes,” Katie said. “Getting to meet new friends and dancing with other people, and I love getting to do it at school.”