Major challenges tend to bring forth major accomplishments. The stress of putting together a major performance, such as the spring musical, brings excitement and pressure to already hectic schedules

“It has affected my life drastically,” said Camaron Ballard of playing the lead in the spring musical “Footloose.” “It requires a nice chunk of my time and commitment which is okay sometimes, but with having school, college enrollment, and thirteen dance classes a week, it leaves me sort of stressed out.

However, the opening night is usually more rewarding than the exhaustion and anxiety of practicing every day.

Students have been working since the first week of January to make the spring musical “Footloose” a success. This year’s production tells the story of a rebellious teen, Ren McCormack (Ballard), who moves from Chicago to a small midwestern town that has banned dancing and rock music.

Throughout the show, according to Ballard, the dancing changes and with every scene, the audience experiences a new style of dance.

“All the dancing helps the show to become more visual,” said junior Drea Dicarlo who plays the preacher’s wife. “It also helps to convey the mood of show through all the dancing.”

The production this year has attracted some dancers who have never participated in a musical stage production before.

“Since I’m new to the show this year, it’s been a great experience being a part of the cast, as well as dancing and singing simultaneously,” said sophomore Kerstin Morley who plays Betty Blast, owner of the Burger Blast and a lead dancer. “I’m excited to see how the end product will finally come together.”

In addition to Ballard, Dicarlo, and Morley, senior Destiny Anderson-Bush was cast as Rusty, Ariel’s best friend. Ariel. the female lead, is played by junior Asha Garrison.

“At auditions I was skeptical about going for the lead but now that I got it, I love it, There’s no holding me back,” said Garrison.

As the roles were cast, supporting male roles in the musical were sometimes creatively filled because of a lack of male participants. Some had to be cut from the show while others were gender bent and played by females and, in some cases, girls were partnered with other girls in dances done in pairs.

“Luckily there were not many lead male roles, but we did lack male supporting roles,” said Ballard. “We only had to cut one character out of the script.”

While the musical has been busy rehearsing for the show, the set crew has also been working after school to create the set for the musical, led by new set crew sponsors, Mr. Forrester, band teacher, and Mr. Yancy, art teacher.

The new leadership also brought new faces the crew, which is composed mostly of girls.

“This year it [building the set] has been an entire girl thing,” said junior Abbey Karlovsky. “This is strange because in the past it has been mostly a guy thing.”

The spring musical will be performed on Friday, February 22, and there will be two shows Saturday, February 23.

“The cast is actually looking pretty good this year,” said Garrison. “We have some great singers and dancers and some really talented actors and actresses. You are definitely in for a treat.”