As the announcement for awards started, the dance team huddled up and held hands in anticipation. A few moments later, the team’s 11 members were jumping and shouting: They had just learned they had won first place in Medium Hip-Hop Division at the USA (United Spirit Association) Regional Competition at Bella Vista High School on Feb 6.
The team has earned a score over 84.9 out of 100 points, the minimum score needed to place in the Championship division for USA National Competitions in March. The team also placed sixth in Jazz at Bella Vista but was unable to place in any other categories. Earning under 84.9 points, the team placed in Open Division at Nationals for X-Small Lyrical, Small Lyrical and Medium Dance.
For the competition season, the team competes in Medium Hip-Hop, Medium Lyrical and Medium Dance, X-Small Lyrical and two solos. The Extra Small Lyrical Dance includes a select five members of the team. The two soloists of the team are seniors Jenna Chen and Chloe Koon.
“There are eight new people on the dance team this year, so a lot of our team members have never been to a competition like USA Bella Vista before,” junior Chih-Hsuan Hsu said. “However, we adapted really well to the dance competition environment to pull through and finish strong for the second week.”
The dance team was only continuing its first-place streak in Hip-Hop competitions. On Jan. 30, the dance team had won first place with a score of 85.3 for Medium Hip-Hop at the Homestead Forte Dance Showcase and Competition, the team’s first competition of 2016.
At Feb. 6 Bella Vista and Jan. 30 Homestead Forte, the team’s Medium Lyrical dance was penalized two points total for only having 10 members of the team compete in the medium lyrical division starting at 11 members, as freshman Chloe Peng tore her knee ligaments two months ago and was still unable to compete.
According to senior Chloe Koon, the team has come a long way since the beginning of the season and is working to alter its routine for future competitions.
“The current challenges we face would definitely be adapting to all the changes to each dance and applying them when we practice and compete,” Koon said.
The team has been practicing these competition dances, choreographed by hired outside-of-school choreographers, since September.
“For the rest of the competition season, I would like the team to place in their other dances of Jazz and Lyrical and not just Hip-Hop in order to show the wide variety of their skills,” Coach Kaitlyn Landeza said. “I know that after this week, we will come out strong at this Saturday's Monte Vista competition.”
The team competes tomorrow at Monta Vista High School.