After a successful year of performing for assemblies, wider school events, and a Men’s Varsity Basketball Game, the Head-Royce Dance Team will be holding auditions for the next school year.
Current juniors Dalya Atamturk and Bristol Copeland started the Dance Team when they were sophomores.
“Our school doesn’t have a football team, so we honestly didn’t really have that much school spirit,” Atamturk said. “Bristol and I decided that we wanted to do a dance team to try to bring more spirit to assemblies and basketball games.”
Copeland added, “I had the idea for a dance team when I was in eighth grade but didn’t really have the resources until high school.”
After scouting for dancers at the FADE auditions two years ago, they reached out to dancers they thought would be a good fit. A few months later, the team made their debut at an Upper School assembly in the gym. That year was mostly spent building up the team and learning new choreography, according to the two leaders, with a couple of performances here and there.
This year, they are hoping to expand the team’s presence at the School. They are excited about next year, especially since they were able to purchase new uniforms with funding from the School, according to Atamturk.
“The first year, I think we only did one dance and one game, but this year we’ve already done three dances,” said Atamturk. Despite ramping up with choreography, the Dance Team performed for only one sporting event this year, a Men’s Varsity Basketball game, due to “scheduling issues,” said Atamturk.
However, the Dance Team mainly performs at Upper School assemblies. “Assemblies are a time when you know all the high school is there, and everyone gets to watch and get hype or get inspired by the dance team,” said Harper Caruana, a sophomore on the team.
She said it’s been an extremely positive experience. “I love learning all the choreo, and I love doing something that performs a little more often than FADE does because I’m not a part of the dance classes at school, and so I don’t really have those mid-year performances.”
Copleand agreed, saying, “I think the atmosphere can be very uplifting. I know for me and Dalya, we work well in a dance setting, and I think it’s nice to include the sophomores from all different friend groups to come together and do something we all love.”
There are currently eleven members of the Dance Team. However, Atamturk and Copeland are planning to hold upcoming auditions so “it’s more fair and people who want to do it can actually know about it,” said Atamturk.
Next year, the dance team hopes to continue expanding and bringing spirit to the school. “My aspirations for the dance team next year are for it to grow. I want the dance team to be more involved with school spirit as well as supporting the school as a whole,” said Copeland.