Just moments before the end of the first half of the football game, anxious dancers rehearse last minute steps and put on the final accessories to their outfits. The cheerleaders huddle in a group and say final words of encouragement before the game, and the dancers complete their final stretches when the lights dim on the stadium. The performers are prepared to kick-off the start of the 2011 Homecoming Halftime show.

If this scene were to be paused and re-winded to the second week of September, the cheerleaders would be seen standing on the same field with cheerleading coach and choreographer Rachel Kay. She announces to the squad that they will be performing at the pregame show for the first time in several years. Kay immediately begins working on a routine, excited to showcase the cheerleaders’ new talents and skills.

“You can expect stunts that have not been seen by the school before,” said Kay. “This is one of the most important performances cheer will do all year.”

The cheerleaders practice for two to three hours four times a week after school to ensure that the challenging routine is performed with precession and skill. After their hard work and commitment, the cheerleaders hope to thoroughly impress their audience.

“[The routine will] be [about] five minutes [long],” said varsity senior cheer captain Carey Gross. “All three levels of cheer will be performing [and many] talents will be showcased [as well as] some new talents that have not been shown yet.”

Also preparing for their part in the show are the CHS dancers representing all four grade levels. Following the theme of their individual floats, the choreographers are creating a masterpiece that will captivate the attention of the spectators.

This year’s broad based theme makes it much more difficult for the choreographers to make a story related to the idea. As a result, they have chosen a generic style of dance to perform, but they are also mixing more hip-hop than ever before.

“This year [the dancers] are going to make a broad dance based on chrome,” said one of the senior dance choreographers Karen Mandel. “The dancers will meet at various times over the next few weeks during lunch and support in order to learn and perfect the choreography.”

From coordinating the behind the scenes work to finishing the smallest of details, the ASB committee is in charge of the halftime show program. The committee also builds and designs the floats that the dancers utilize as their backdrop where they exhibit their cohesive and passionate movements.

“This year [ASB is] getting ready [much] earlier to prevent any last minute mix ups,” said junior ASB commissioner Tessa Gidish. “We are going to make sure that everything gets done faster and smoother, [and we are] allowing more time for each group to get [ASB’s] input and help.”

The halftime show will display more talents and a variety of student body members will be given an opportunity to participate, along with teachers and other faculty members.

“[There will be] a variety of people, so that it is not just a dance production, but a student body representation from each class,” said Gidish. “We are looking to incorporate the cheerleaders, actors [and parents] and the court will take prestige at the show.”

Also, rather than having one unified theme for the four floats, each one will have an individual theme that relates back to the chrome theme through a prepared skit by the KYOTV members.

“This year, we decided to go off of the wordplay around the word Chromecoming as the basis for our skits,” said KYOTV member Nick Escobar. “We tried to add some more visual elements to the show, utilizing more props and set pieces.”

With the preparatory work on the floats accomplished, the choreography of the dancers executed to is fullest potential, the stunts of the cheerleaders mastered and the KVOTV skit well rehearsed, CHS is ready for one of the most highly anticipated events of the year. Now, pressing play on the paused scene, the audience explodes in applause as the first group of performers opens the 2011 homecoming halftime show. •