Three years ago, I had the pleasure of being a part of Los Osos’ Dance Fundamentals class as a freshman. I remember our winter performance, the audience consisted of close family and friends who came to support the program.
However, the dance group has grown exponentially, athletically, and in popularity, to where their recent Spring Showcase sold out, which has never happened in the history of the LOHS dance program.
But with these exemplary facts aside, how did the dance team grow to reach such great success? The answer has everything to do with the amazing choreographer, amazing teamwork, and incredible effort.
In regards to the stunningly executed choreography during the showcase, after interviewing some of the members of the varsity team, there seems to be a clear trend between their success and their deliberate dedication to carry out the performance with eloquence.
Senior Ashlyn Burt, a student on Varsity Dance, for instance, says that the team definitely faced a few struggles whilst preparing for their showcase. She explains that one of the few struggles the team faced “was definitely time crunch,” also saying that they had very “limited time to choreograph…having three months to prepare,” and that the team was preparing to the very last minute before the performance.
Although the team felt under pressure to polish the dance in its entirety, Burt says that the dance team still was able to “come together and it worked out really well.”
After seeing various clips and hearing many accounts from attendees of the show, the Spring Dance Show absolutely came together perfectly. The team paid homage to popular musical artist Rihanna’s iconic 2023 halftime show. Burt claims this part of her show to be her favorite to perform, imitating one of the famous “marshmallow” dancers that accompanied Rihanna during her halftime show.
These marshmallow-like outfits, which consists of an all white outfit with a puffy white jacket, were not only worn during the performance, but throughout the entire school day that the show was on.
As a way to show support to the team, many students, including the dance team, wore all white outfits with sunglasses to school, promoting the show in a fun and school-spirited manner.
Despite their challenges in preparing for the showcase, the team learned a few valuable skills and great satisfaction from the performance. Junior Carely Mason, another student on Varsity Dance, says that one of the things she gained from this experience was “to learn how to do different choreography” and learn the “different styles of Hip-hop.”
With the performance being filled with absolute coordination and precision with every move, it is safe to say that although they were learning new aspects of dance, they were able to execute it with perfection.
Along with being able to build upon her dance skills, Mason says that another thing she gained from this experience was the satisfaction of seeing the many people who showed up to support the team. The term “many” however is definitely an understatement considering how the Spring showcase sold out for the first time in LOHS history.
Overall, this team has grown to be a collective of rising stars who exemplified their talents beautifully, leaving a legacy for this school forever.