By Angelina Calbo and Daniel Ortiz
The Nyack Redhawks Dance Team is one of the highlights of halftime during football season. As members of the team, we’ve learned that we can work productively together and by doing this, we’ve been able to extend the season from just football games to basketball halftime shows as well. In retrospect, there are also many difficulties we have encountered.
Our goal is to be able to perform at more than just sporting events. As we strive to reach this goal, we understand the efforts we need to put in to be successful. Along the way, we have developed new friendships and gained additional support from the student body. Now, we have the ability to extend the time of songs we dance to and our unique style of dance has demonstrated the creativity of each member. Also, our principal, Ms. Saieva, has helped to get us presentable uniforms for performances.
When asked about how joining the dance team impacted her, Isabella Vasquez commented, “I got to meet some amazing people and it has become a fun everyday after-school activity to look forward to. It is a time to relax, and meet new people. It has made my first year in Nyack amazing.” Divya Thampan shared similar thoughts, telling us that “dance has become a safe place. It is filled with amazing, fun, non-judgemental people who quickly became my friends. Being a new kid is hard, but joining dance has made that process so much easier. Not to mention it is extremely fun and always the highlight of my day.”
Despite the many positives of being on the team, we also face many obstacles, such as lack of funding, uncomfortable practice spaces, and a lack of representation at events other than football and basketball games. We need more funding. We also need our own location for rehearsal because when we rehearse daily, we have to rehearse in a small hallway and it's not as much space as we need to reflect on choreography. We need a space where we can practice without being in each other's way.
Since the student body loves when we perform, dance team performances should be announced in all game updates on social media pages for football and basketball. Dance should be included in other school events. We could even have events that showcase dance, such as talent shows or recitals. Dance is so much more than just moving; it’s another artistic language for the school to represent its identity.
We put in the same amount of time and effort as every other team and club. When we don't get as much recognition as we should, it sends the message that we are not valued in the school community and we are nothing more than entertainment. If high schools consider dance a sport like many colleges, the dance team would be able to compete against other teams and we would have the opportunity to receive scholarships to dance schools.