[JSR] West Coast Elite Glendale: Dance Competition

CVHS Medium All-Female Hip Hop Team is performing.

Contemporary Dance Team’s performance.

When most people think of arts, they probably think of paintings or drawings, but other types exist. For example, dance is a very unique and interesting form of art, and is becoming more popular among adults, students, and young children. Many high schools offer the opportunity for students to join a dance team. For example, Crescenta Valley High School has a program on campus for students interested in dance. Every year, the school holds auditions, and separates the participants into three levels: beginner, intermediate, and advanced. The students who are chosen to be in the advanced group, also known as competitive, participate in competitions against other high schools throughout the season.

Rosalia Park, Grade 9 Crescenta Valley High School

One of these competitions was WCE (West Coast Elite) Glendale, held at Glendale High School. At this competition, twenty different high school dance teams came together to perform and compete against each other. Due to different styles and types of dance, schools were split into separate sections so that the whole competition could be organized nicely. These different types of dance performances included hip hop, contemporary, jazz, lyrical, and more.

The students who performed contemporary dance particularly stood out to many of the members in the audience. Contemporary dance is defined as artists whose working material is the movement of humans. It does not have an established or fixed pattern of movement; it is rather a continuous search for new dynamics and forms. One of the elements that made this section of the competition stand out was the story that was explained in the dance routines. This allowed the people watching to understand and follow through with the message the dancers wanted to convey.

Along with the dancers performing the contemporary dance, there were many schools that showcased hip hop routines. These dancers were very different than the contemporary ones, but the execution they showed the audience and the judges were no different. The hip hop section of the competition was split up into small, medium, and large all-female groups as well as small and large all-male groups. CVHS had dancers participate in four different hip hop categories; small, medium, and large all-female hip hop teams and one large all-male hip hop team. All of these groups did a great job, earning many compliments from the audience and their coaches.

Maika Francis, a senior at CVHS, who is part of the intermediate dance team, described her experience at the competition; “I think it was awesome, it’s the best way to make everyone in the dance team get to know each other and become closer. It’s a great opportunity to learn from other schools, too.” Being part of a team that you are comfortable with and showcasing your true talent is very important to high school students. Competitions like WCE Glendale teach student dancers lessons that they would not be able to learn anywhere else.