Jordan Takai, former captain of California State University Fullerton’s (CSUF) Dance Team and alumnus of Walnut High School’s Dance Team returns to Walnut as an assistant coach.
Takai served as a former member of the WHS Dance Team from 2016-2020, holding various leadership roles in the program such as historian, secretary and president. After graduating high school, she danced for the CSUF Dance Team all four years of college, becoming captain her senior year. As a teacher at Momentum by Dellos, a dance studio located in Walnut, she works alongside other coaches and spends around 10 hours a week teaching technique and various styles of dance such as jazz, tumbling and pom.
“[In high school], my dream was to dance in college, and I achieved that,” Takai said. “In the future, I still want to dance professionally, hopefully for an NFL or NBA team.”
Takai has won numerous regional and national championships while at Walnut and CSUF. She won two Universal Dance Association National Championships in the Division 1 Jazz category. Being captain and coach have many similarities, such as having to lead the team to a successful season, cleaning dances and motivating the team.
“I think being captain at Cal State Fullerton prepared me for being a coach at Walnut because I learned a lot about improving my leadership skills and being able to motivate and inspire the team to succeed. I feel grateful to the coaching position, [especially here at Walnut] because this team is a big part of what made me the dancer I am today,” Takai said.
Pom is a fast paced style of jazz that entails precise movements from its dancers, a common dance style practiced in college level dance groups. Dance Team introduced pom this year as a new dance style, so Takai was invited back to help the team master it.
“[Coach Jordan] helps our team by focusing on our choreography and techniques and gives us detailed corrections. She usually tells us to get into groups based on our parts so that we can do it by counts,” Dance Team member senior Angela Qi said. “This helps the team because now we can focus on small parts and details, making our dances cleaner.”
Takai looks forward to reconnecting with former dance friends, forming new bonds between dancers and other coaches. She hopes to lead the team and bring back national championships from Florida.
“I love being able to see the familiar faces all grown up now and I’m excited to help them grow even further as dancers. I’m also excited to get to know the girls that I just met and can’t wait to coach and help them as well,” Takai said.
Head coach Audrey Wang believes that Takai, with her leadership experience, will be a great asset and maintain the standards set for the dancers
“She’s going to be a good role model for them. Jordan is a really good example of what hard work and dedication are. She’s going to be a great coach,” Wang said.
