Fear washed over Becca Schleicher’s face. As one of 19 members of the University of Michigan Dance Team, the junior spent a good portion of her life working on various maneuvers. The problem: Her partner had not.

The lift and spin move was one of the trickier components of what the Dance Team and the Michigan student section, the Maize Rage, were expected to perform Wednesday night at halftime of the Wisconsin at Michigan men’s basketball game.

Schleicher and 37 others went through a final rehearsal Tuesday evening in the Central Campus Recreation Building. It’s the second consecutive season the dance team and student section will perform at halftime of a game.

“This is great,” said senior Will McDowell, one of the Maize Rage dancers. “We’ve been talking about it ever since the last one, to be perfectly honest. This and the Big Ten tournaments, they are just huge build-ups because it fosters a community between all the Michigan spirit teams.”

No one had more energy than McDowell on Tuesday.

He was positioned in the center of the front row of the dance, and he lightened the mood. Wearing a red Roeper School T-shirt, he kept the guys involved by doing pre-routine cheers of “1, 2, 3 … Men!” and kept the dance team, well, cracking up.

At one point, one of the dance teamers watching the men rehearse said simply: “He’s going to steal the show.”

When dance team captains Rachel Wehner and Betsy Donohue created this year’s routine, they knew they needed simplicity so the Maize Rage neophytes could learn yet had to keep it interesting enough that it would be creative and fun.

That wasn’t easy.

“It didn’t take us that long to choreograph it,” Wehner said after the final rehearsal. “But teaching it …”

“Took a long time,” Donohue said. “It took us about a month.”

Twice a week, the dance team taught those who couldn’t dance at their level how to be part of a choreographed routine. Teaching formations and converting dance terminology to regular language took time.

During one practice, a missed assignment led to a kick. The kick collided with a Maize Rager’s face, hitting under his chin and splitting and cutting his tongue.

By Tuesday night, the Maize Rage members knew the formations. Wehner had to keep them in line, and early on in the last two-hour practice things didn’t look good. Instead of a fun, light-hearted, entertaining show, it looked rough.

The entire production looked like a combination rehearsal for an off-, off-, off-Broadway musical gone awry and the opening credits scene of the “Drew Carey Show where the cast dances to “Cleveland Rocks.”

“We’re doing this tomorrow,” Wehner said, appearing frustrated and banging the side of the dance studio stereo softly.

Then the performers became serious. What looked out of place started to fit. What looked like a rough estimation of a dance routine started to take shape as something enjoyable and entertaining.

After the run-through, one Dance Team member wearing a Michigan Engineering shirt explained the last part of the dance to the Maize Rage again, using her hips and her voice to demonstrate “One, two, step, hop …”

It was for the dance-off portion of the routine, the grand finale that had the Maize Rage looking like, well, fish hooked on a line as the dance team swayed in a sultry manner.

“Obviously the steps are a lot easier than what we’re used to doing, technique-wise,” Donahue said. “It gives us a chance to have a lot more fun with the dance. It’s not as serious.

“It’s not as detrimental if someone falls out of their pirouette, you know.”

As they wrapped for the night, both the men and women went through the routine once more separately, Wehner issued a challenge to her teammates.

“Did you see how funny and entertaining that was,” Wehner said. “We have to match it.”

They did - and then they huddled in the middle and yelled “DanceRage,” because over the last month, the student section and dance team became a performance troupe preparing for a one-night only show.

“I think it’s going to go well,” said Nick Mattar, the president of the Maize Rage. “Last year was really tough to beat, but I think the dance team captains really came up with a really nice dance for us to do this year.

“Especially considering we have so much pressure on us after last season’s great performance.”

Michael Rothstein covers University of Michigan basketball for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at (734) 623-2558, by e-mail at michaelrothstein@annarbor.com or follow along on Twitter @mikerothstein