Passionate dancers bring dance club to life

Leading out a sea of people in club onto the quad, senior Peter Hsieh and senior Stanton Ho awe the audience during Homecoming week on Senior quad day, bursting into a mash of hip-hop choreography. A few minutes later, senior Megan Kao leads a large group of girls dressed in pink with purple stripes, astounding the audience surrounding the quad with her fluid dance choreography.

Envisioning a club that would bring people with common interests together and that would allow newcomers to learn to dance from experienced dancers who would share their knowledge, Hsieh and Kao and alumnus Ricky Chiu created the school Dance Club during the spring of 2011.

“We felt that SHS didn’t have much of a dance scene outside of individuals and small groups of friends,” said Hsieh, the current co-president.

The club meets every Friday during lunch in the dance studio, alternating between student-taught dance combination and free practice sessions.

Sophomore Ethan Chiu, an avid breakdancer, loves attending the club meetings. “I think it’s a really great club,” he said. “There’s a lot of different styles so we can all learn a lot of different aspects of dance.”

Chiu sees dance as a hobby and views it as a great way to express himself. “It makes me feel more free,” Chiu said.

Hsieh developed his interest in dance just before high school after he started to follow TV shows “So You Think You Can Dance” and “America’s Best Dance Crew” in addition to a few dancers on YouTube. Hsieh’s dance style involves some hip-hop styles such as popping and locking as well as hip-hop choreography.

“I enjoy dancing because it is a hobby that allows me to be active and interact with music,” Hsieh said. “I also like it because of the friendships it can create.”

In college, Hsieh plans on joining a dance crew to keep his social life interesting.

“In the future, I hope dance club will survive and grow more popular so that dancers here will benefit from having a strong dance community,” Hsieh said.