by Nicole Tieu, Staff Writer
The Fountain Valley dance team competed in the United Spirit Association’s annual national competition in Anaheim against other high school teams from all over America on March 2oth and 21st. The medium hip hop team placed third in the open division while the character team placed fifth in the championship division.
Nationals has two levels of competition, opens and champions. To qualify for the champion level competition, the dance team had to achieve a score of 85 or higher at a regional competition beforehand. Teams from all over the country were able to compete in the USA Nationals competition.
“Nationals is a huge event for the dance team and just about every dance team in the nation that competes,” said Sarah Sulewski (’15). “It is a chance to showcase your talent and truly go up against the best of the best.”
Soloists Cheyenne Piepmeyer (’15) and Sarah Funasaki (’15) also competed. Piepmeyer placed second in drill downs and was in the overall top ten Super Solo division out of over 50 dancers.
The medium hip hop team placed in the open division against 16 other teams in the open division. Because they had won first place at the California Association of Dance/Drill Team Directors (CADTD) State Championships the weekend before, the character team had anticipated higher results for their routine. However, the results proved to be disappointing to many dance team members as they aimed for higher placement.
“Even though we didn’t place as high as we wanted or expected, we did what we came to do, that was to go out and give the performance of a lifetime together as a team,” Sulewski said.
In the future, the dance team will be participating in a hip hop competition and will be hosting their annual Spring Show to showcase their competition routines open to friends, families, and staff members. Auditions for the 2015-2016 school year will also be held in May.
“A lot of the seniors and captains like myself will be leaving next year but I feel that the dance team will continue to improve by working hard in practice over the summer and in preseason,” said Piepmeyer.
