Aragon dance competition attracts interest from around the Bay Area

The Black Student Union’s 6th annual Dance Competition occurred on January 22 in Aragon’s main gym. Teams ranging from four to twelve dancers from twelve schools participated in the competition against The Exprezzion team, Aragon’s competing team. The Aragon Dance Team opened the show.

Sophomore Exprezzion dancer Gabrielle Tompkins says, “Seeing the competition last year made me want to do it; I love it. I think the event is the fun part.”

There were three judges in this year’s competition: Stephanie Foronda, Ranier Castill, and Princess Kennard, the dance instructor of Brett Harte Middle School. BSU advisor Don Bush says, “We always pick judges based on if they have had experience in dancing before, or have taught dance at some point. We also have teachers judge occasionally.”

The theme of this years’ competition was: Which Celebrity Are You? Tompkins says, “For the theme, we decided to be our own celebrities.”

The winner of the competition last year, Christa McCauliffe Middle School, participated along with several other teams from local schools around the district. Bush says, “Last year we had a really good turnout; this might be the biggest one yet.”

The Exprezzion dance team consisted of six members, four of which competed. Tompkins says, “We have two break dancers, an Indian dancer, and me. We [danced] to K-pop artist Shinee.”

Freshman breakdancer Akil Hamseth says, “Some of the moves we’ll be doing are the Coffee Grind, the semi-six step and the twelve-step. And another move we don’t know the name of, but we call it the ‘Original Munchie.’”

Dance teams undertake intense preparation for the competition, Tompkins says, “We practice two hours a day on school days, and four hours on weekends and days off.”

The competition started out with an assembling of all the teams together to dance to the Cha Cha Slide, by DJ Casper. The Aragon Dance Team introduced the performing teams, followed by Jazz Matazz Studio and Brett Harte Middle School. Freshman audience member Ria Patel says, “I came because it sounded interesting, and also the Aragon Dance Team is really good. I also wanted to see a lot of the other schools, since I heard that their teams were really good too, but I like Aragon’s the best.”

Each remaining team from the competing schools performed afterwards. There were intermissions every three performances, in which one person from every school team would be called down to the floor and given ten seconds to show their moves. Depending on how much applause a member got from the audience and how much spirit they showed in their dancing, the teams were narrowed down until four teams or so were left remaining. Of the cheering, Patel says, “You can see and hear the spirit from the schools.”

Unfortunately, there was a complication during the event: Aragon’s team Exprezzion’s CD wouldn’t play correctly due to a scratched disk. Nevertheless, the team managed to recover quickly, improvising and matching their movements with the unpredictability of the disc. They were later given one more chance to perform with the fixed CD.

After last years’ winner, Christa McCauliffe Middle School, performed their dances, awards were given. Brett Harte Middle School won Most Enthusiasm, and the Spirit Award went to Weston Ranch High. Third place trophy went to San Mateo High School, Weston Ranch won second place, and Christa McCauliffe Middle School won first place for the second year running.

Co-captain of the Aragon Dance Team senior Andrea Arnoldi summed up the event, saying, “It’s always fun. Everyone is spirited about their teams.”