Dance Team hosted its first Dance intensive of the school year on Friday, Oct. 25th for students age 12 and above in room Y3.
The Dance intensive was a fundraiser for the Dance Team and featured three dance styles. First, there was pom class taught by coach Jordan Takai. Following that, coach Claire Ku taught a contemporary class. Coach Florrie Ku concluded the extensive with a hip-hop class. The prices for participating were $25 for a single class and $60 for all three classes. In total, 35 people attended the event with 10 participants being non-high schoolers. Head coach Audrey Wang hopes that the dancers benefited from the classes offered.
“For our kids, it’s a good way for them to keep training and get them ready for the season. For students not on the team, I want to expose [them] to styles that we do here on the team. [We want] to push them out of their comfort zone. It’s a good way to keep them well-rounded,” Wang said.
At the beginning of the intensive, dancers warmed up by doing turns and moving their arms up and down while walking. After that, they learned the choreography for pom class which involved precise and quick motions. For contemporary, individuals were required to use textures like tension in the choreography with fast transitions to different moves. Similarly, in the hip-hop routine, dancers had to perform movements with strength and speed. Along with the learning process, participants had to maintain their energy and stamina throughout the dances.
“Even though I got tired [during the classes], I pushed myself till the end. I was very focused [on learning] all [the] different choreography since we went in [at] a fast pace,” Dance Team member freshman Chloe Huang said.
After learning the choreography, students performed the routines for each other in groups by grade level.
“I had a lot of fun trying the routines and learning it with my team and the people who came,” Dance Team member freshman Kate Chen said. “I think I did good during the group performance, but I definitely could’ve done better on catching onto the choreography faster.”
The intensive enabled all dancers to work on their teamwork and versatility.
“Overall, I performed well. I learned how to catch [onto] choreography quicker,” Huang said. “[The intensive also] helped me with teamwork because if someone needed help with choreography, l’d try to help them.”
Dancers showcased their resilience throughout the intensive and had the opportunity to experience dance outside of the team.
“[The intensive was] a learning experience for everyone,” Chen said. “The dance community allows us to express everything through dance [and] the intensive definitely did [that].”
