For the first time in five years, Knightline is preparing to go to Nationals. The team will be leaving on Jan. 29 for Orlando, Fla. and returning Feb. 2. The days will consist of intense dance routines that competing teams have been busy practicing.

Nationals usually has about 30-40 teams competing, although there can be as many as 80.

“Many schools from all over go competing, and the majority of the schools go every year, “ Knightline coach Heather Box said. “Involvement for us [means] a lot more time and a lot more practices.”

In order to qualify for Nationals, teams have to perform their dances well enough at summer camp. Knightline’s dance placed first at camp URL, Universal Dance Association. The team has hired an outside professional choreographer to teach a required jazz dance. Choreographer Angie Behymer had the girls come out to the studio she works at, Dance Connection, one Friday night and spent the night teaching the new dance routine. They are now working on polishing minor details in the dance.

“[The hardest part is going to be] having practice and working,” junior Jodi Wurm said. “We always talk, and now we actually have to pay attention.”

All of the teams compete on Jan. 31. The next day, they will find out if they make semi-finals. Usually about 15 teams make this. Making it to finals on Sunday night is determined by the scores from judges. There is typically no set number of teams that qualify. The top five teams placed in finals will receive a trophy.

“[The experience] is going to make us stronger and make us want to work harder,” junior Kayla Conoyer said.

The team says they’re going to have to put practice before anything else in the coming months in order to do their best. This is a challenge they say they are willing to take.

“Overall, [Nationals] will give the girls a lot of confidence and ambition to want to be more competitive,” Box said. “I hope the girls are excited to get experience and see other teams across the nation.”