Dancers and cheerleaders more friends than rivals

The crowd went wild as the cheer team rushed into formation in the center of the gym, pom-poms in hand and ready to perform their routine at the rally. In the crowd, the dance team cheered loudly for them.

Although the cheer and dance team may appear as rivals due to the similarities between their respective sports, they both respect and support each other in their own ways.

“Dance and cheer have never very been super close, but we always cheer really loudly for each other when each of us perform,” said sophomore Nicole Wong, a member of the dance team.

Both teams use the dance room for rehearsals, but it isn’t much of a problem unless cheer practice is pushed back 30 minutes.

Additionally, the dance team has a former cheerleader, Mira Spendlove, on their team this year, and Wong feels that the two teams have gotten closer than before as a result.

In fact, both teams have even considered doing collaborations with each other.

“We wanted to do a collab for the Christmas rally,” sophomore dancer Joelle Compeau said. “However, because of some complications in planning and it didn’t happen.”

“They never really reached out and we never talked to them about it,” dance co-captain junior Amy Tang said. “And their practices start an hour after ours ends, so there isn’t any overlap.”

As rivalries on campus go, this one is a bust.

“I wouldn’t say that there is a rivalry between the two,” said Spendlove, who does dance and cheerleading. “I have actually noticed that the two teams have been very supportive of each other this year. I would say a lot more than in the past.”