On Jan. 4, Hamden High School’s dance team participated in their first competition of the season, in Philadelphia, winning second in Pom and first in Kick. Pom routines emphasize sharp, precise movements and detailed choreography, while kick focuses on synchronized kicklines and uniformity. Sophomore Rowen O’Neil said she prefers kick. “Pom is made up of more sharp motions and differences in choreography, and kick is more kicklines,” she said. Both of the dances they did were “very characterized” according to O’Neil, but she was not at liberty to say the themes.

“All of our competitions are important, but this is the least important one,” said O’Neil of the competition.

 Preparation for this competition was largely the same as in recent years; they did more stamina training as they “had to work on that the most,” according to O’Neil, explaining that stamina training consists of running routines “over and over again.” 

Their next competition is scheduled for January 24 at Quinnipiac University.