Dance Leaps into In-Person Performances
Dance team makes videos for Castillero and Brookdale Senior Living facility.
By Sydney Teves
Dance team makes videos for Castillero and Brookdale Senior Living facility.
By Sydney Teves
In a normal year, the dance team would perform a dance at Christmas in the Park, Castillero Middle School, Brookdale Senior Living facility and plenty of others. This year they were able to perform in person at Christmas in the Park for their annual show on Thursday, Dec. 9 which was a positive change in comparison to not having done anything except a few recorded dances last year.
The dance team was also able to return to performing at football and basketball games this year although their usual dance for Brookdale and Castillero was filmed and presented to the audience as a way to, as a whole, to lower the spread of COVID-19 and keep them safe.
While they did have to incorporate methods used last year, like recording dances and wearing masks, they were just as grateful and happy to be able to do anything at all. Summer Ooka, 11, is glad for the chance to bring happiness to others in a time when life isn’t so happy.
“Unfortunately everyone loves dancing in front of live audiences, but this is amazing too because it gives us the opportunities to still be able to perform and dress up and work together to spread holiday cheer,” said Ooka.
A huge challenge of not being fully in person last year was the lack of relationships dance team members were able to form with each other because of the limited amount of time the team had to bond. This added to the mental toll taken on the athletes. Underclassmen, like Rachel Carney, 10, had never danced in person with the rest of the team as their first year of high school was online.
“It was hard at first,” said Carney. “Just not knowing them yet, because I had seen them online, in videos, but not in person.”
Instead of not doing some dances at all, the team decided that the best solution would be to record them like last year. Ally Toombs, 11 found that this year was pretty similar to other years.
“This year isn’t too different from years prior other than having to wear masks, but there have been a few performances that the dance team usually does that we’ve had to film instead of doing in person,” said Toombs.
The recorded dances are normally performed at Castillero and Brookdale. Kassie Kendra, 11, notices how the team is trying to still spread holiday cheer all while keeping everyone safe.
“Mrs. Yap decorated the back with Christmas themes which we will use to be festive,” said Kendra. “It will make the risk of spreading COVID-19 smaller by recording the dances instead of performing in person.”
The athletes have found that the restrictions for COVID-19 this year are not all bad. They’ve found upsides in recording their dances instead of performing in person.
“One of the biggest advantages when it comes to being able to record performances instead of perform them in front of live audiences is that you can mess up as many times as you would like and you can just redo it by a click of a button so the audience gets to see the best version that you want them to see,” said Ooka.
The dance team was also able to return to performing at football and basketball games this year although their usual dance for Brookdale and Castillero was filmed and presented to the audience as a way to, as a whole, to lower the spread of COVID-19 and keep them safe.
While they did have to incorporate methods used last year, like recording dances and wearing masks, they were just as grateful and happy to be able to do anything at all. Summer Ooka, 11, is glad for the chance to bring happiness to others in a time when life isn’t so happy.
“Unfortunately everyone loves dancing in front of live audiences, but this is amazing too because it gives us the opportunities to still be able to perform and dress up and work together to spread holiday cheer,” said Ooka.
A huge challenge of not being fully in person last year was the lack of relationships dance team members were able to form with each other because of the limited amount of time the team had to bond. This added to the mental toll taken on the athletes. Underclassmen, like Rachel Carney, 10, had never danced in person with the rest of the team as their first year of high school was online.
“It was hard at first,” said Carney. “Just not knowing them yet, because I had seen them online, in videos, but not in person.”
Instead of not doing some dances at all, the team decided that the best solution would be to record them like last year. Ally Toombs, 11 found that this year was pretty similar to other years.
“This year isn’t too different from years prior other than having to wear masks, but there have been a few performances that the dance team usually does that we’ve had to film instead of doing in person,” said Toombs.
The recorded dances are normally performed at Castillero and Brookdale. Kassie Kendra, 11, notices how the team is trying to still spread holiday cheer all while keeping everyone safe.
“Mrs. Yap decorated the back with Christmas themes which we will use to be festive,” said Kendra. “It will make the risk of spreading COVID-19 smaller by recording the dances instead of performing in person.”
The athletes have found that the restrictions for COVID-19 this year are not all bad. They’ve found upsides in recording their dances instead of performing in person.
“One of the biggest advantages when it comes to being able to record performances instead of perform them in front of live audiences is that you can mess up as many times as you would like and you can just redo it by a click of a button so the audience gets to see the best version that you want them to see,” said Ooka.