Dance Team kicks high into regional competition
February 6, 2023
Dance Team attended its first West Coast Elite (WCE) and second competition of the season at La Costa High School Saturday, Jan. 28.
Since their season started later than usual, most dance teams attended the previous competition at Esperanza High School. As a result, only around 10 teams competed, allowing the judges to move through the dances more easily. Solo competitions lasted from 11:30 a.m. to noon. Team competitions began at 2 p.m. until the awards ceremony at 6:30 p.m.
βWe went down all the way to San Diego, so we worked really hard in order to do well at the competition to make our trip worth it,β dancer freshman Savannah Huang said. βUsually, our competitions are just around here, so when we compete around different schools, it was different to see all the dances. Thereβs just a lot of talent everywhere, and itβs cool seeing everyone elseβs dances.β
Dance Team placed first in its kick, large jazz and large lyrical routines, second in medium contemporary and medium lyrical routines and sixth place for their small contemporary routine. In addition to earning first place, its kick routine also earned the Best Choreography Award, which the judges voted on at the end of the dances.Β
βWe were trying to focus on our performance aspects because thatβs what we were lacking in our scoring,β captain senior Bailey Sok said. βItβs basically the way that you show your emotion when you dance. Obviously, if you just dance with no facial expressions, youβre kind of like a robot. Regardless of like how good your technique is or how clean the routine might be like, the judges wonβt like to feel the story youβre trying to tell if youβre not actually emoting and expressing your face.β
Among the four soloists, officer juniors Tiffany Peng and Zoey Tran placed fourth and 12th, respectively. Dance Team plans on improving its performance for the next competition using audio-recorded feedback from judges. Β
βI was really nervous but going on the gym floor just felt natural,β Tran said. βIt just feels like Iβm practicing over and over again. I was more nervous this time because it was a bigger competition. Last time, it was a smaller [competition]. For this one, they place you into categories by grade, but the other one places you into categories by grade and style. I feel like I did better in the first competition though.β
The team dances to the same songs every competition. This year, its songs were βRemember (Acoustic)β by Becky Hill, βchampagne problemsβ by Taylor Swift, βNever Letting Go (feat. Troy Laureta)β by Connor Duermit, βLay All Your Love On Meβ by ABBA, βFalling Up (Piano Acoustic)β by Dean Lewis and βOmigod You Guysβ from the musical βLegally Blonde.β Soloists danced to the songs βLike Youβll Never See Me Againβ by Alicia Keys, βYouβre Not Hereβ by Cynthia Eriva, βRomeβ by Dermot Kennedy and βWill You Still Love Me Tomorrow?β by Amy Winehouse.Β
βI think [dancing] is [a] nice environment to be in,β Sok said. βYou obviously want all your hard work to pay off, but you perform the dance once [and] you donβt get any do overs. Itβs pretty stressful, but itβs nice having all the girls around motivating me and it makes me responsible for being on a team.β
