Dance Team members trained over a three week summer dance camp on campus from June 3-7, July 29-August 9 and also attended the USA Dance camp at Knott’s Berry Farm hotel from July 22-25.
During camp, dancers built stamina for the season by running on the track and using the weight room. After strength conditioning, they learned and practiced their new routines from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.
“I think [practicing over the summer] made me push harder while dancing. I was able to learn a lot from other dancers,” freshman Chloe Huang said.
In its first year at USA Dance Camp, the team took classes from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., focusing on various dance techniques and choreography. “[USA]camp was a really good experience for our team, it was really nice throughout the summer to keep on dancing,” sophomore Riley Russo said. “Practicing helps us because the more time we spend together, the easier it is to dance together. When we get more comfortable, the team just becomes stronger as a whole” Russo said.
This year, the Dance Team has 18 members, the smallest in their program’s history. Although this limits them to smaller competition categories, summer training has boosted their confidence and prepared them for a competitive season despite the challenges.
“It takes dedication to go to those early morning practices during summer break and it’s admirable how dedicated the girls are,” Dance Team co-captain senior Kiara David said. “I think summer training showed us that hard work pays off and that if we continue to work hard during the school year, we’ll see it pay off during our season.” Ω
