High kicks and hopes: the making of 35-time national champions

After leaving it all on the competition floor and giving their 2025 kick routine, “BOOP!” everything they’ve got, Dance Team huddled together hand in hand at the awards ceremony of USA Nationals. Announced as first place in Medium Kick, the team felt an overwhelming sense of fulfillment, taking home their 35th national championship title and setting a new school record.

The kick division has been the unique cornerstone of the Dance Team since the program first entered the category in the early 2000’s. Known for its synchronization and satisfying choreography, it is a team effort that every dancer does their part to allow the routine to run smoothly. In previous years, the team has done routines inspired by iconic movies such as “The Wizard of Oz,” “Legally Blonde,” and “Indiana Jones.”

“Along with other dance techniques, [kick] helps them with their showmanship. Usually we have themes for kick routines, so it definitely pushes them as artists to embrace or embody a character. It also teaches them precision and a level of excellence because kick needs to be super clean and timing is really important,” head Dance Team coach Audrey Wang said. “I think kicking brings the team closer together because it is one of our hardest routines. Since we’ve had the kick title for so long, we all work towards the same goal of winning it together. When they nail it, they nail it together as a full team.”

This year, the Dance Team was its smallest size in program history with a total of 18 members. This imposed new challenges, as the team had to compete in a more competitive medium category and less dancers influenced formations.

“With fewer dancers on the floor, every dancer becomes more noticeable and mistakes are also easily shown,” co-captain senior Chloe Kwei said. “To overcome this, we drilled every formation repeatedly, making sure each dancer understands their role in contributing to the bigger picture. We also focused on strengthening our performance quality, so that even though we were smaller in number, we could still perform as if we had a lot of girls on the stage.”

The 24-25 Kick routine “BOOP!” was performed to the song, “Where I Wanna Be,” by Jasmine Amy Rogers and was choreographed by guest choreographer Sue Gehringer, head coach Audrey Wang and assistant coaches Florrie Ku and Jordan Takai. The team went undefeated as national champions on both the east and west coast with the Betty Boop inspired routine.

“It felt great to win kick, especially since we lost last year, to be able to come back with a win felt good,” dancer sophomore Sally Bai said. “For kick, the challenging part about the routine is how in sync we have to be. Kicking our legs, matching height of our kicks and precision is the hardest part.”

Over the duration of their time on the team, Dance Team members feel they’ll carry what they’ve learned on and off the dance floor into the future. For kick especially, performing and rehearsing has proven to be more than just a high difficulty routine, but a testament of all the work put in by the dancers.

“This routine has been deeply meaningful to me. It’s my last year, and being able to lead a kick routine with my team and from my freshman year to now, it has been a full-circle moment,” Kwei said. “I’ve grown not just as a dancer, but as a leader, learning how to motivate my team and how to keep energy high even when everyone’s tired. Kick has taught me that strength isn’t just physical, it’s about the mindset you bring to the floor every day. I’ll carry these lessons with me far beyond the dance room.”