Bopping their way high
Triumphing through this year’s competition season, Diamond Bar High School’s Dance Company competed in West Coast Elite’s regional competition hosted at Glendale High School February 18. The team took home five gold and two silver awards, securing their qualifying for WCE’s Nationals.
This year, senior Dance Company president Talyah Ejan and junior Ute Wong performed seven routines, competing within an array of genres consisting of hip-hop, lyrical and contemporary. They faced intense competition including West Ranch High School, last year’s reigning champions.
Preparations for competition season stem all the way back to August. Outside choreographers hired by Dance Company Created pieces for members to practice and rehearse to bring to competition. Judges then ranked pieces and decided placement amongst other competing teams.
“Competition is what Dance Company trains for all season,” Ejan said. “We spend hours every week perfecting our performance and every eight count to be stage ready.”
According to Riley, music is typically the first thing that inspires choreographers and from there, stage movement, formations and other intricate details in the choreography are determined. Pieces are specifically crafted to be visually appealing for both the audience and the judges.
For this year’s WCE regionals, Dance Company produced seven pieces, with one particular contemporary dance standing out among the rest. Choreographed by Ejan, who was also involved in last year’s large contemporary piece, she was awarded one of the two Best Choreography Awards from the competition’s judges.
“When I choreograph, I like to make it visually appealing for the audience and the judges,” Ejan said. “The meaning of the music is not only shown through the choreography but through their costumes.”
Competition day at WCE starts early and is filled with warm ups, pep talks and preparation in between performances with awards held later on in the day.
“As a coach and an advisor, it’s the best because you get to see them in their element and all their hard work gets to be recognized by family, friends and judges—so it’s kind of that mix between stress and excitement,” Riley said. “It’s a lot to get there but also so rewarding to watch them perform.”
As Dance Company’s competition season comes to an end through WCE nationals as well as their Contest of Champions in Florida, the team’s main priority for the remainder of the year is preparing for their annual Spring concert.
“For next year’s competition, I look forward to being able to uphold the image that our company had created last year and hopefully we’ll be able to uphold this year as well,” Wong said.
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