On Jan. 30, the Sensations left for Nationals which was held in Orlando, Florida at a Disney World Resort. They performed a jazz routine and hip-hop routine.

“We were excited. This is the most fun year I’ve ever had at Nationals even if we didn’t place as well as before. A lot of the other teams were stressed out, and we were a little stressed, but we also just had a lot of fun,” junior Bre Gajewski said.

The team had been for preparing this competition since before football season started.

“I always get nervous, but this is what we’ve been practicing for since summer. There were so many good teams down in [Orlando,]” Gajewski said.

The Sensations ended up placing 13th in hip-hop, and they did not place in jazz.

“We didn’t make it to the finals in jazz, but we felt good about the performance. We were a little upset that we didn’t place, but we just took those emotions and put them in our hip-hop performance,” Gajewski said.

Making it to finals was tougher this year because only 40 percent of the performances made it to finals. Last year, 50 percent of the performances made it to finals.

On Jan. 29, the Sensations performed both of their competitions at Francis Howell North. All JV and varsity dance teams from the Francis Howell School District performed their competition routines.

“It was nice seeing our sister schools perform because we don’t always get to see them perform at competition,” senior Tiffany Olderworth said.

Senior Cassidy Luer felt the showcase motivated the team for Nationals.

“Before the showcase, we didn’t see any of North’s dances so [the showcase] let us know what to expect for Nationals,” Luer said.

To attend the Howell Showcase, fans had to bring in two canned goods that went to charity.

“Bringing in canned goods was North’s idea, and it was a good cause,” Olderworth said.

The Sensations had their last practice for the National Dance Team Championship last Tuesday.

“We felt good about it. The showcase is also a good practice to get in before we go down to Nationals,” Olderworth said.

Luer thought the showcase went well and was glad to see the stands filled with parents and students from all schools.

“Our coaches said we looked really good and our friends liked it,” Luer said.

The Sensations will be performing their hip-hop routine at the winter pep assembly on Friday.