Aliso Niguel’s Dance Appreciation has taken home many wins from their comp season this year. Each division, with the exception of medium, earned first place at their competition that took place at Woodbridge High School. Medium achieved third place, which is still a really high ranking as these comps are extremely competitive.
Dance Appreciation, or DA, is divided up into different subunits, just like other high school sports teams. However, instead of having a varsity, junior varsity, and frosh-soph team, they label their divisions as small, medium or large, with large consisting of small and medium plus additional members, medium consisting of just small and a handful of other members, and small being like varsity, as it consists of a small group of the top dancers on the team.
Dance Appreciation also recently added their all-male division, who have done incredibly well this comp season.
“It felt really good to see all of our hard work pay off,” comments member Alina Martin (10). “Even though medium got third place, it was still worth it because I know we did our best and overall we mostly got first place.”
DA is known for being incredibly synchronized and full of energy whenever they perform, so it goes without saying that they practice really hard for every set they put forth. Consequently, they make sure to practice even harder during comp season to satisfy not only the judges but themselves.
They start with learning the choreography, cleaning it and repeating it to really perfect the sets. Higher divisions, such as small and medium, practice for long periods of time after school, showing their devotion and commitment to the team.
The DA coaches, Jasmine Orcaz and David Le, also work very hard to help the team grow and improve in order to have a victorious season; their help should not be underestimated.
These intense practice sessions were proven effective as they have been really successful this season; for their first competition, medium won first place and large won second place. The team brought almost all first places from the Woodbridge comp, and they ranked really high for the Glendale competition.
The team’s last competition will take place on March 7, where they will most definitely end on a good note to wrap up their prosperous season. They are currently working hard towards the last comp and are excited to showcase it and have fun competing against other teams.
“Our goals for the season are to leave everything on the floor and put out all our energy and effort into their remaining performances for the judges and audiences to see and appreciate.” says member Zoe Vovan (12). “Also, I just want to have a fun year with the team after comp season, especially because it is my last year in DA.”
Although Aliso Niguel’s Dance Appreciation season is starting to come to an end, they still have more to prepare for and show the audience. The annual Dance Appreciation showcase will take place in May, where they will perform all the sets they have learned and practiced this year with additional performances to wow us with.
