Earlier this month, Riordan’s dance team officially kicked off, and students were overjoyed.
Cara Wong ’24, a member of the dance team, expressed, “I’m excited that there’s an official dance team this year. In all the time I’ve been at Riordan, there have been dance club activities but they weren’t really consistent, so I’m glad that this year there is finally an established group.”
The auditions were a huge success. It was held before the Thanksgiving break and lasted three days throughout the week. With almost 50 students auditioning, 34 members were accepted onto the team.
The requirements were: warm-up choreography, across-the-floors, and choreography. The dancers will be working on a piece called “World Eater” by Ashnikko.
Rehearsals will be in the cafeteria every Friday after school. During this time, they can be found warming up, practicing the basics and techniques, learning new dances, or planning future performances.
Although the team became official this year, this is not the first dance team Riordan has had. There were attempts to create a dance team in the past, however, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the team was forced to shut down. It will be the first dance team to be organized in this particular format.
Dance Team and Color Guard Coach Jade Nguyen stated, “The main goal is to have a successful dance season with the dance team! This is my first time running a team like this and hope that this program can grow the dancers it has currently and future dancers.”
“I plan to have fun and make a dance team that can shine and perform to their greatest potential,” she added.
For the first year, the team will be performing for rallies and events at school but is hoping to expand in the future to other performing opportunities, such as the possibility of competing.
Diane Lai ’24, a member of the dance team, shared, “I used to dance before and I am excited to get back into it.”
The dance team aims to showcase the beauty of dance and enhance the overall spirit of the school community while fostering a sense of unity and creativity.
