By Miles Largoza and Anastasiia Tkachuk
The Believe Dance Competition is a yearly competition in which many dance teams compete against each other in front of a panel of judges.
This year, Redwoods Dance Force competed in the Believe Dance Competition in Fresno on Febuary 5th. Despite it being the Force’s first competition this year, they took home first place in the competition, making them the Regional Champion.
Michelle Lapp, the dance teacher, says, “The Believe Competition consists mainly of private studio dance teams, not high school teams. Attending this competition gives the team an opportunity to perform at the Saroyan Theater which is such a great experience.“
They competed at the USA Northern California Dance Classic in Cupertino against Northern & Central California High School Teams (private & public schools). The scoring for USA competitions is very thorough, focusing on precision, formation changes, creative pathways as well as technique and choreography.
Lapp says, “The team has competed at USA Regionals in the past, but this is the first time we have competed at the Nor Cal Classic. The last time we went to The USA Dance Nationals was in 2019, so we are very happy with our results!”
Kahlen Novelo, ‘24, has been dancing for 10 years. She says that “this [competition] was really smooth running. We had a lot of time to prepare our dances and we got a lot more team bonding. ”
For Gwyn Miller, ‘24, joining the dance force was always a goal of hers while growing up. She says that she “admired the sense of family that dance force created and wanted to participate in a group with a passion for a shared interest”. In regards to the competition, Miller says “I felt proud of my team for our ability to execute corrections and the progress that we had made.”
Hailey Fonssea’25 has been dancing since she was 2 years old. She says, “I thought we did really good. We made it into nationals.”
USA Dance Nationals are March 17-18 in Anaheim California. The team will be competing against other dance teams from all over the Nation.
Tags: arts, arts & entertainment, dance, dance force, redwood gigantea, rhs, rhs dance, visalia
