Five current Diamond Bar High School students along with several past graduates competed in the World of Dance in the Junior Division this past summer as part of the GRaVY BABIES dance crew. GRaVY BABIES is the junior team to GRV, a hugely respected mega crew that placed second at Hip Hop International this same year. Due to GRV’s popularity, GRaVY BABIES was created in January of 2012 and has since placed first at two major dance competitions – World of Dance and Body Rocks.
World of Dance is one of the most well-known dance competitions as it is sponsored by business powerhouses such as Verizon. Its appeal also comes from the fact that there are several, localized events throughout the nation. The event draws a wide range of spectators from simple observers to hundreds of dance hopefuls and has earned a solid, loyal fan base that attends each year. For instance, the Bay Area competition where GRaVY BABIES performed had over 4000 attendees. The convention also holds workshops and sells various fashion items from huge, up and coming street brands. In preparation of WOD, the group had several practice sessions a week for four hours each. They trained for about a month in preparation of the prestigious event. The team had received fairly short notice, but were able to pull it together as the dancers used the same set they performed at Body Rock where they received a score of 497 out of 500.
Senior Keegan Sullivan, a lieutenant of DBHS All Male Dance Crew, stated, “I felt really proud that we were able to do that on the stage and I know we pushed as hard as we could.”
After fine tuning various aspects, the team was able to give an amazing performance that won both the audience’s love and the judge’s favor. Senior Franklin Yu, who is also the DBHS AMDC captain, explained, “Our set is very draining because it is very high energy and by the end of it, we are all really dead.” It obviously paid off as the team placed first in the Bay Area World of Dance Competition and achieved the first perfect score in WOD Junior Division history. “It was unreal because no one had done it before and after various competitions with diff erent teams, I know how hard it is,” Yu commented. Yu also had the great honor of subbing for a GRV member at Hip Hop International where GRV placed second in the world. Alongside West Covina High School, DBHS has the most students participating in the award-winning dance crew. Current Diamond Bar students, along with Yu and Sullivan, Derrick Sy, Taylor Yada, and Jason Lin, are also proud members. All fi ve members are also a part of DBHS dance teams. The January 2012 audition, where these five tried out, drew over 100 dancers but less than 50 were actually accepted. There are several DBHS students in various other dance crews such as Marvels, Goon Squad, and Miniotics, but it seems that GRaVY BABIES is quickly stealing the spotlight with its recent successes. The team will be losing a few members due to some age restrictions, but auditions were held in September to find new, talented dancers.
The entire dance community looks to this new dance crew as the future of the dance scene. DBHS proudly stands behind our talented students who have truly shown their worth as dancers.