When the Eaglettes dropped down on the stage to do the splits during their Y2K hip hop routine, the crowd erupted in celebration as they body rolled back onto their feet.

“Towards the end of the dance, we’re all kind of worn out,” senior Eaglettes officer Isabella Gonzalez said. “We’re all kind of tired, so that motivated us to go and keep our energy up.”

On September 28, the Eaglettes and Desperados performed at Messtival, a family-friendly music festival at the AT&T Discovery District in downtown Dallas.

The Eaglettes performed an officer routine to “Bad Romance” and a team Y2K hip hop dance. The Desperados followed with a new “Play Something Country” dance and their “Only in America” dance from the back-to-school picnic.

Senior Desperados Officer Mia Ortiz said she didn’t expect so many people to come and watch them perform. She saw many parents and friends from Richardson, along with people from Berkner.

“It was just a very family-oriented, like I felt seen by my peers and my friends,” Ortiz said.

The crowd had the biggest reaction to the Desperados’ stunt section called “The Wind,”,\ where they showcased all of their flashiest stunts and tricks for two minutes.

“Crowds love to see stunts and love to see that the guys can lift us and the girls flipping, and it’s just super cool,” Ortiz said.

Ortiz said she felt that the Desperados were able to keep the energy flowing after the Morgan Wallen tribute act, as they’re both country performers.

“I just felt like we were showcasing all the same thing, and we just had different things to contribute to that,” Ortiz said.

Because the Eaglettes and Desperados didn’t know how big their stage was, they had to change their formations at the festival to fit everyone. The Eaglettes divided themselves into three groups, one group on the stage and two on the grass.

“We kind of had to improvise as we got on stage, so that was a very good learning experience for us,” Gonzalez said.

Since they recently performed at the Back-to-School picnic where they danced on turf, performing on grass was similar to what they’re used to.

Head dance director Holly Hess said that despite having to make last-minute adjustments and only having 20 minutes to rehearse those adjustments before going on stage, both teams performed really well.

“Being able to practice under that pressure and everybody being locked in and coming together, helping each other learn the dance,” Gonzalez said. “That was great.”

There was one stunt that Ortiz and her partner didn’t hit when they were on stage, because they didn’t have enough time to practice it. It got to her head that they didn’t need to warm up for this stunt because they’ve always hit it. Now, she’s learned that just because you can always do a stunt, it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t warm up for it.

“Yes, you have higher chances, but always warm it up,” Ortiz said.

Hess also learned to make sure she’s communicating with the teams to be flexible so whenever those situations arise, they can always adapt.

Before their performances, the Eaglettes and Desperados got to see the Jelly Roll tribute act. They went to the front of the stage and started singing along, pointing and waving at him.

“It was just a lot of fun hanging out [and] getting to see what I was performing at and getting to be one with the people,” Ortiz said.

Afterwards, the Desperados and Eaglettes stayed at the festival and looked around the vendors, where some of them got crochet flowers and candy. They also got to see other performances, such as a Sabrina Carpenter tribute and a ballet dance group.

Hess said performing to people outside of Richardson and seeing their reactions was a different and interesting experience for them. Richardson is really school spirited, so going outside of that, they never know if they’re going to get the same reaction.

“I wish there would have been more people because I think we would have gotten an even better reaction,” Hess said.

Ortiz said Messtival was a fun, low-pressure experience. Unlike school performances, they didn’t stress about impressing the crowd because they didn’t know what to expect.

“I love little performances because doing this for so many years now, I don’t get as nervous as I used to,” Ortiz said. “It’s just a second nature to me. So it’s nice to go to small performances and have that excitement or that adrenaline, because I don’t get that too much anymore.”