The 11 girls on the dance team have the first week of March circled on their calendars because that is the week they will be in Orlando, Fla., at the USA Nationals dance competition.

This year's event is not only farther away than usual (it's usually in Anaheim) but also a month sooner — leading them to a time crunch in preparation for the event.

“I’m nervous because we have to get our dances ready for competition, but there isn’t much time left,” Peng said.

Due to a late start on choreography and an earlier date for nationals, the dance team has a shortened competition season this year from last May to March of 2017. Excluding the holiday breaks, the team only has five weeks to prepare their dances for their first competition in January, compared to the 10 to 12 weeks in previous years.

“Everyone knows that we don’t have nearly as much time as previous years, and that can be intimidating,” senior Caroline Li said.

This year’s choreography for the team has resulted in mixed feedback, thus lengthening the process of cleaning the dances even more since there is much to change.

Although it is not uncommon for the team to tweak the choreography of dances in the middle of the season, the time crunch has put extensive pressure on both the coach and the dancers.

“We haven’t even touched one of our dances because the choreography needs to be changed, and that process can take a while,” freshman Gillian Koerber said. “It is frustrating because our first competition is coming up, and none of our dances our ready.”

Some of the girls are also disappointed that the season is ending more than a month earlier this year. According to Li, it is a shame that the team only has a few months of competition this year, since competition is such an important part of the dance team experience.

“School events like football games and rallies are fun and important because they promote school spirit. However, competition is where we get to compare ourselves with teams from around our area and the entire country,” Li said. “I wish we had more time to prepare so we can represent our school to the best of our ability.”