With the recent WCE Nationals having taken place last weekend in Long Beach California, the 2023-24 CHS dance team season has officially come to a close.
“Nationals was great! It was a really great culmination of our entire competition season– we worked really hard. I felt like we put our best on the floor for the last time,” said CHS Dance Program’s Head Coach Kirsten Furino.
The team had a solid performance, placing first in the extra-small division and having two dances make it to the final round.
“We came home with first place in the extra small division, we also had two dances go all the way to finals and in those two dances, we got first and second place. Once you get to finals that competition is intense, so the fact that we did well was a testament to the hard work the dancers put in,” said Furino.
Although the team was successful at nationals, Furino did report that this season was a challenge due to an influx of injuries and illness, as well as a large portion of the team being new. Nevertheless, the team came out strong and showed up at their final competition.
“In general, it’s been a little challenging. We’ve had a lot of illnesses and injuries, and as a result, we’ve had to re-stage. We’ve used alternates, we’ve had some alternates step in at the last minute which was amazing – [sophomore] Hayley Slobin who stepped without hesitation at a regional.” said Furino “It’s been a learning experience, a lot of the dancers are new to the team this year. For many, this is the first time they’ve ever experienced a dance team competition season but overall we’ve been very successful. We came out strong, we showed up well and we can be proud to be Calabasas High School.”
Without referencing injuries, other circumstances had a major impact on the team: competition and performance schedule. According to Furino, this season has been one of the shortest in recent years, resulting in little time before competitions to work on choreography.
“In previous years, the Nationals were a little later in March, even just by two weeks, so we typically have more time to rehearse,” said Furino “Sometimes our first competition won’t be until the end of January, whereas this year, we immediately came back from winter break and the first Saturday back was our first competition. It was a really quick turnaround.”
Even with the challenges the team faced during the weekend, they enjoyed the healthy competition.
“It was a really fun weekend overall,” said senior Dani Kirsch. “We had our fair share of challenges but I think we came out really good.”
“It was so much fun getting to experience nationals with such a new team. It was definitely one of the most exhausting weekends we have had, but it was so worth it,” added senior Jocelyn Wang.
Even though their competitive season may be over, CHS students and members of the community still have numerous opportunities to see this year’s team perform at the upcoming Spring dance concert ‘reflections’, as well as, the next pep rally.
For any students interested in auditioning for next years’ team, Furino is looking for hard-working and excited dancers.
“For students looking to audition next year, I would say the team is looking for motivated dancers who will be committed and really put their all into everything.” said Furino, “If they’re willing to do that, they’re going to get so much out of it. If you want to be a part of a team that works hard, come our way!”
