On November 16th, the High-C’s participated in their first competition of the year at Clackamas high school. Dance team members woke up at 4:30 or 5:00 am in the morning on Saturday, November 16th. We have to be on the bus at 5:55 am, and the bus leaves at 6:00 am. And if you’re late to the bus you’re kinda us oh well.
Senior captains Alivia Nguyen-Payne, and Olivia Phan help us when we need more clarification, but it isn’t just the two of them who assist, we all make each other better. Someone who is caught struggling and nobody else sees, someone offers as best they can.
For a first year freshman on the dance team, it’s like being dragged into a pool of laughter and seriousness. The team has to be serious, but also have fun while dancing. It’s exciting to have a group of people to laugh with when you make a funny mistake or just laugh to laugh.
The routine has pom’s included, it is very fast paced, and has multiple different songs in one. We’re moving around a lot, always doing something. Pom is very different compared to they’re half-time game routines. Pom routine is more serious, focused, and more time management. Other routines are not as fast like the pom routine. Our pom routine is like a hip-hop, pop, 1990 mix of music. The song, “Everybody Dance now” by Music Factory, which came out in 1990.
When they go to competitions, they have to wear foundation, lipstick, blush, highlighter. They have to put on a whole lot of blush, like their cheeks are redder than the sun so judges can see us. The judges also sit high up.
As the High-C’s are coming closer to more competitions, it gets nerve wrecking. If you mess up once, they don’t get a point. For every one correct thing they do, they get a point. They have to get a certain amount of points to qualify for state. If they miss or mess up one step, you can lose state competitions for the whole team.
Judges during the competitions are very observant and see everything. They see when you aren’t in a straight line or a right spot. When being scored teams can receive 72 points to qualify for state. To get those points, teams have to look up at the judges the whole time, never look down, be in the right spot, straight line, and most importantly smile.
When competing, the High-C’s have to make sure they’re looking up, smiling, and having energy. The judges have to believe you want this, want to be there, like you know what you’re doing. The High-C’s didn’t place, but they still get to go to state, which is in march.
