Dance team leaps onto the competition floor

Long before the school year started, the NPHS dance team was choreographing, rehearsing and perfecting advanced routines in anticipation of their competition season. Their first competition was on Jan. 17 at Esperanza High School, where they won 1st place in their small lyrical group and their POM dance. Throughout the rest of the year, the team will travel to different schools all over Southern California to compete in several different categories, getting scored on performances and technique. With West Ranch High School winning the grand championships last year, the NPHS dance team is looking to come back this year with a strong win.

each routine is anywhere from two to three minutes long, how each dancer has to run on adrenaline all day long. “You early in the morning, you come to school and you get on the costumes and bags. Most of the time you do hair and makeup Anderson said. “We compete all our dances and it literally feels like running a marathon because they’re all like 30 minutes apart, which hindsight seems like a lot of time, but it’s really not.”

Hutchins, freshman, who is eagerly looking forward to their POM routine. The style combines cheerleading’s tricks and pom poms with the technicality of dance. “I love our POM dance. It’s really fun energy and we’ve been working really hard,” Hutchins said. “We work all year long to stage and make sure it looks good and like you’re actually competing against other teams instead of just like showing off.” different dancers from other high schools, Carolan believes in respecting their opponents and performing the best they can. “I try to teach the kids to not look at teams as rivals. We go out and do the best that we can do. We also appreciate, honor, and allow ourselves to get motivated by what we can learn from other successful teams,” Carolan said. competition last year on the NPHS campus, the dance team was able to host again this year, bringing in a very positive crowd with many supportive peers and parents to cheer on the dancers. “This is the second year we have hosted a competition at NPHS and I love it! It’s our home and I love welcoming other coaches, parents, and students to our school. We have received really good feedback about our competition being a supportive environment for all,” Carolan said.

Already having experience from previous competitions, Anderson feels especially excited