Heart pounding, junior officer May Gendeh completes her a la seconde turns, halfway through her contemporary solo to “Cry Me a River” by Justin Timberlake. Watching from the front of the dance studio, contemporary choreographer and SHS dance team coach Lara Jean Mummert cheers for her.
This season, the dance team is planning on attending regional competitions every Saturday during the the months of January and February, their first one taking place on Jan. 18. The team will compete with their pom, jazz, hip hop and contemporary team dances and solos.
Typically, upperclassmen are given the choice to perform a solo dance for select competitions.
Solos on a dance team are a chance for individual expression and artistry. Each solo involves a complex process, starting from finding the right choreographer and selecting music, and ending with cleaning up the routine. “Cleaning” is a process of going over a dance to “tidy up” the details and making sure every move is precise.
This year, senior officers Anisa Taymuree and Saejel Thomas, along with junior officers Shirina Cao and Gendeh have been preparing to compete with their choreographed solos.
Taymuree is performing the song “Mr. Morale” by Kendrick Lamar. Thomas, who was in communication with L.A choreographer Karen Yamagasiki over the summer, is performing a jazz piece to Brittney Spears’ “Get Back,” while Cao is performing a contemporary piece to “Can You Hear Me” by UNSECRET, choreographed by Mummert.
For group dances, adviser Julia Peck finds and coordinates with a guest choreographer to set up dates for the dancers for choreography sessions. However, for soloists, it is their responsibility to find a choreographer and organize an appropriate meeting date.
Usually, dancers only have the chance to meet with their choreographer once or twice, and the responsibility of perfecting the dance for competitions falls on the dancer. However, Cao and Gendeh have a special case in which they can meet up with coach Mummert every other week to learn choreography and clean the dance over a longer period of time.
Thomas reached out to her choreographer Yamagasiki in June during officer dance camp, where Yamagasiki was an employee. Officer camp is a camp for newly appointed officers over the summer to prepare for their larger roles throughout the season. As the school year began, the two decided on a song for Yamagasiki’s specialty — jazz — which was also the style Thomas wanted to explore more.
“[My solo is] going good so far. I got my choreography a couple weeks ago, and I’ve been basically just practicing at home to keep the memory fresh before I start cleaning,” Thomas said.
Taymuree had a more difficult time finding a choreographer — communicating with three before finding her current one.
Originally planning to work with one choreographer whose availability was limited, she had to change course multiple times before finding the right fit. This search led her to Karen Chien, a hip hop dancer who won the Eternal Flame award at Heat Convention; according to Taymuree, she not only worked within Taymuree’s schedule but also brought an exciting and more flexible creative process to the table.
“The way [Karen makes her choreography is] she choreographs half of it, and then in person, she feeds off of what she sees [my] strengths are” Taymuree said. “She really took what I had wanted and incorporated it, and she was very open to my input, which I thought was really nice.”
Once a soloist receives choreography, the next step is to perfect it. This phase is often called the “cleaning” process, where dancers break down the routine and refine their moves for precision. For Taymuree, responsibility falls on her to ensure their movements are sharp and polished, as she is unable to meet with her choreographer for the rest of the year.
She often records videos to analyze each section in detail, making sure every move reflects the energy and style she wants to convey. This process, though time-intensive, allows her to maintain control over her progress and make continuous improvements.
“I’m so pumped [for the season]. There’s this one part [in my solo] that’s so cool. It has a tutting section (a style of dance that involves making shapes and angles with the arms), and it’s really hard,” Taymuree said. “But, once I get it, I know it’s going to look really good.”
