Ridge Dance Team Takeover
April 21, 2016
Before Tuesday rehearsal begins, the members of Ridge Dance Team chat and begin to warm up. There is an exciting energy in the room as they run their dances. Ridge Dance Team spends only an hour and a half together each week to rehearse three dances, but the girls happily proclaim that they’ve been “winning everything” at competitions this season.
Throughout this school year, RDT (as members call it) has won many gold and platinum awards, the highest levels of achievement in dance competitions. In addition, they have won numerous judges awards such as “Broadway Bound” and “Best Choreography.” Judges awards indicate that the dance stood out to a particular judge, and that the judge wants to commend the dance and the team performing it for outstanding work in a specific area.
In its most recent competition, the Beyond the Stars Dance Competition, Ridge Dance Team ranked very highly. It received first place in category for the small group jazz dance, “It Don’t Mean a Thing”; fifth for the small group hip-hop, “I Wanna Rock Right Now”; and first for the large group hip-hop dance, “Universal Mind Control.”
Despite the high levels of achievement, RDT member Deirdre McMahon ‘17 reminds non-dancers that “while many studios tend to be competitive, filled with plenty of drama, Ridge Dance Team is an extremely supportive environment for everyone to have fun and grow as a dancer!”
In perhaps its most important role, RDT helps girls of all ages get to know each other and support each other, whether it is through help on a dance, in classes, or with personal drama. When Sammi Laham ‘19, a freshman on the team, was asked what her favorite part of Ridge Dance Team was, she replied, “I love how close knit everyone is, and that coming into high school, everyone helped the transition so much.”
As Ridge Dance Team Captain Jess Burchett ‘16 summarizes, the team environment is “a family and we focus on having fun while still getting things done and improving our dance skills.”
Ridge Dance Team is dominating the competition season. Look out for them, folks – you’re not going to want to miss their next performance in the Spring Dance Showcase on May 13.
amy warshaw • Dec 20, 2016 at 12:34 pm
Overall, the article was really good, and I like how you descibed how well they worked together, showing cooperation and teamwork. Maybe you should add in what they have won in the past, and how many years that person has been on the team.
Alex Roberts • Dec 20, 2016 at 11:54 am
I liked the article because it was interesting to read about the the different roles of the dancers. It provided a well description of the dancers which I liked! Good job!
selin Ciner • Dec 20, 2016 at 11:49 am
It was interesting to learn about the different roles of dance and the high achievements of the dancers, interesting article!
Lauren Carey • Dec 20, 2016 at 11:47 am
I think the article was very good and provided a good description of the dance team and their performances. It was very interesting, great job!
Grace Chester • Dec 20, 2016 at 11:42 am
I think the article is great! It has a lot of details and I like how it talks about how the team works together and that dance is not an individual person sport!
Hiral Solanki • Dec 20, 2016 at 11:38 am
Overall, the article was really good, and I like how you descibed how well they worked together, showing cooperation and teamwork. Maybe you should add in what they have won in the past, and how many years that person has been on the team.
Gauhar Sarwal • Dec 20, 2016 at 11:36 am
I think it’s very cool that we have a team that is very good at what it does and is very supportive with one another. I wish every team could be like that!