You may be familiar with their routines at halftime of football and basketball games, but make no mistake about it, members of the Newtown High School dance team are every bit as competitive as they are entertaining.

After performing for the home fans at games throughout the fall and early parts of winter, the dancers get into competitions of their own in the South-West Conference and state championships. And the Newtown High squad is among the best around.

A year ago, the team placed first in the jazz category of the SWC competition, and second in SWC’s hip hop division. Newtown was runner-up at the state level in jazz. Newtown’s dancers have won conference titles three years in a row.

Newtown lost eight team members to graduation, but gained eight newcomers this year.

The team is led by captains Meera Gupta, Michaela Hall, Kaitlyn Pierce, and Charlotte Stenz.

“We hope to continue our SWC streak with a fourth win, and get back on top at the state championship,” said Newtown Coach Cheryl Stenz, whose squad brought home a state title in 2014 and was runner up in jazz in the 2015 championships.

“This year’s team is made up of very dedicated and talented dancers who work very well with each other. they have a lot of experience and continue to improve both as a team and individually at their studios,” the coach said. “We strive to support one another and work on all technical aspects of dance.”

“We enjoyed performing at home football games this season, especially collaborating with the cheerleaders. We look forward to dancing throughout the winter at basketball games and are focusing on maintaining our spot at the top of the SWC ladder. We worked with the same choreographers who have led us to big wins the past few years,” said Coach Stenz, referring to Chris Lupus helping out with hip hop routines, and Emily Brestovansky in jazz.