The San Dimas dance team has been preparing for their first dance competition for several months, and the moment is almost here. They had spent many late nights and early mornings practicing in preparation for this competition. With the different preparation techniques they have created, they are confident they will be ready on January 20th. The early steps of planning, which most people outside of the competitive dance experience don’t understand consist of months of conditioning, training, and strength and flexibility training prior to learning multiple routines at a time.
The dancers on both varsity and junior varsity have to engage a large number of choreographers, ranging in age from people just out of college to high school students, before they can even start the actual practice process of their routines. It’s a time-consuming and costly process that requires extensive fundraising and preparation. Yassine says that, “disregarding any solos they may want to perform, there are six routines in all for varsity alone”. Imagining the fundraising that this includes on top of all of the other responsibilities they have such as halftime performances, sideline routines, parades, and showcases, they find themselves very busy trying to carry everything.
Senior Eva Yassine who holds a position of one of the varsity dances captains presents to us a behind the scenes view of the procedure for the productions that they create and bring to life. The first step after the months of training is hiring choreographers to come and choreograph small routines. Because of their schedule and the student athletes multiple responsibilities, it is hard to be able to find a time that works for all, so majority of the time we split the routines by day and come to practice ready to learn as early as 6:30 am. Eva explains that “even though we’re exhausted, tired, and worn out from school, work, and our other priorities the day before…my team and I always bring our focused minds to be able to retain the choreo and memorize each move and count that they teach us”.
Yassine explains to us that this year varsity’s competitive group routines consist of large jazz, large pom, small contemporary, small hiphop, small jazz, and finally their “moneymaker”; the musical theater number based off and called “the wiz”. Eva explains they are hoping that this one will lead them to brining home some rings and ringing the bell. All of these routines that the girls juggle are also in the pile that includes an additional solo routine that they have the option to compete, which can consist of any genre of dance.
An admirable aspect of San Dimas Dance teams competition is that they allow the junior varsity team to compete as well. Even though the overall style of competition that is available is slightly different that what the competitions offer for varsity, the dancers are diamonds in the making. JV has three different routines consisting of jazz, hiphop, and character number based off of grease lighting. The dancers also have the opportunity to compete solo as well, giving them even more experience before they are off the varsity.
With the months, multiple programs, camps, and people helping them on this journey, the San Dimas dancers are ready and confident to compete with the support of their school, coaches, and teammates. The Saint Scroll is which you the best of luck on your first competition Saints.
