The familiar faces seen performing their extraordinary routines at pep rallies and in competitions throughout the year are none other than the Lourdes Dancers.
The team is usually formed in April, when they hold auditions for both the JV and Varsity teams. The girls start working immediately with choreography in May. Throughout the summer, the dancers turn in videos of them practicing their individual tricks and exercises. The team spends one week in UDA camp over the summer, which allows them to qualify for Nationals later in the year.
“The UDA days are very, very long but in the end it grows the team closer and makes us stronger,” senior Gabriella Garcia said. “It’s a very fun week!”
However, the season officially begins two weeks before the first day of school with their intensives, where they practice for hours to prepare for the upcoming season. Once school starts, the team falls into their regular practice routine of three days a week for 2 hours each day. At the start of the season, there are weekend practices for about 4 hours, but once the competition comes, they intensify to 6-8 hours. Practices are spent working in strength and perfecting a jazz and hip hop routine that will be used throughout the season at competitions and performances.
The teams do so much more than just perform at school pep rallies. They dance at Columbus pep rallies and complete in UDA competitions all year. They had a successful season this year, competing in four total competitions: DTU, UDA Regionals, FDC, and UDA Nationals. Nationals took place the weekend of February 1 and the teams showcased all their hard work. JV jazz placed third and their hip hop placed fourth. Varsity’s hip hop placed 11th and their jazz 8th.
None of this would have been possible without the guidance of their coaches: Alexandra Santalo, Melissa Martinez, and Mia Alonso.
“We wouldn’t be anywhere without our coach, Melissa,” Garcia said. “She is literally the glue that holds the team together. Yes, the captains do a great job at being in charge of the team and being leaders, but ultimately it is our coaches who complete us all.”
The bond that both teams had with each other was something indescribable. The girls supported each other through it all and led each other to where they ended up.
“I think our bond was one of the things that made us so successful this year,” senior Alexa Orozco said. “One of the new traditions we started this year was saying to each other backstage, ‘I’ll do it for you if you do it for me,’ which essentially meant that we promised to give our everything on stage for each other. This year, we have placed an emphasis on celebrating each other’s success and helping each other in areas that we might not be so strong in which has helped us improve as dancers and has lifted our team morale.”
