Lincoln Takes on West Coast Elite Dance Competition
Lincoln High School dance team performing their contemporary piece. West Coast Elite hosted a dance competition at Valley Christian High School. January 18, 2020, Located at Valley Christian High School (Andrea Saldana).
On January 18, 2020, different schools across Northern California came to compete at Valley Christian High School for the annual West Coast Elite competition; this was the beginning of the multiple dance competitions that will be taking place this year. Dance teams from different high schools train for these competitions for months to compete alongside the best of the best, all dancing for first place.
Our own Lincoln dance teams: The Lincoln Convertibles and Lincoln Performance Company (LPC), attended this event hoping to perform their best. The competition began at 7:30 a.m. and started with the character division. In a dance event such as this, different team dances are categorized into “divisions”, and in each of those categories, the teams who competed are either placed for third, second, or first.
Lincoln Convertibles and LPC danced in two separate divisions. The Convertibles first dance was their lyrical number, which was in the “Medium Lyrical” category. It was choreographed by Kristen Volk, who has trained teams for twenty-two years and currently teaches, choreographs, and judges at competitions. The lyrical routine told a story about two lovers and their struggles of being together. Cassidy Stagi and Camillo Cervantes played as the couple beautifully portraying the pain and love they have for each other. For their second dance they competed in the “Medium Contemporary” division choreographed by Ali Lambrecht; the dance included many intricate lifts that left the audience in awe.
LPC competed in the “JV Large Lyrical” division, choreographed by Daniel George, the song “Someone You Loved” by Lewis Capaldi set the scene for the dancers. Throughout the dance it told a story of three different couples who are going through the ending of their relationship which was portrayed by: Laiyla Santillan, Samantha Plantado, Miranda Lee, Gabriel Ramos, Edward Vazquez, and Jesus Estrada. For their second dance, LPC performed a jazz number in the “JV Large Jazz” division choreographed by Daniel George, it was an energetic piece that was sassy and with a 1920’s twist.
When it came to awards all the teams were seated on the gym floor anticipating to hear the results. The Convertibles got second place for both divisions they competed against, beating Monta Vista for one of the divisions. LPC got first in both divisions they danced for. When it was time for the solos; Jade Woodworth, Fernanda De La Rosa, and Camillo Cervantes competed against other soloists in their own grade and the result was that Jade Woodworth placed 10th, Fernanda De La Rosa 8th, and Camillo Cervantes 4th. Camillo Cervantes got the opportunity to compete for the solo finals, and he placed 8th overall.
Congrats to our Lincoln dance teams!
Andrea Saldana is a senior at Lincoln High School, she was born and raised in San Jose, California by her two parents who immigrated from Guadalajara Jalisco,...
