Update: Rock Bridge Dance Team

by Vox Staff on April 17, 2012 9:47 pm · No Comments

By Megan Donohue

Friday was a big day for the 27 girls at Rock Bridge High School who auditioned for the Bruin Girl Dance Team — it was the day when a piece of paper was posted with 19 names on it. Those 19 girls had made the team.

Rachel Forrest rehearses a jazz routine with her class from CPAC. This and three other routines will be dancing around inside her head for her Bruin Girls tryouts this week. PHOTOGRAPH BY ELIZABETH PIERSON

The final team includes four captains, 13 returning members who are in bold below and 6 newcomers.

The clinics for tryouts were on April 9, 10 and 11 and provided a clean slate for the girls. Rather than repeating dances that had been finessed for years, they learned four new routines: a Pom dance, a jazz dance and two across-the-floor routines. On April 13 they performed those four dances in addition to a 16 count improvisational routine, which is basically a chance for them show off their best moves.

Four outside judges scored the girls when they auditioned in groups of three. Shannon McDaniel, the dance team’s head coach, said the scores usually divide pretty cleanly, with a gap of several points separating the girls who make the team from those who don’t.

“I was shocked,” Kylee Tarbox, a newcomer to the team, says. “I never knew I could accomplish something that big. I wish it were summer already so I could start learning my routines.”

Although she is disappointed that her friend Rachel Forrest didn’t make the team, she said Forrest is excited for the girls that did make the team and she plans to audition again next year. To read about what the girls went through before the auditions click here.

2012-2013 Bruin Girl Dance Team Members

Camden, Josie – Captain

Concannon, Erin

DeClerk, Reagan

DeClue, Kalyn

Gardner, Katie – Social Chair

Harline, Kate

Harper, Hannah

Hill, Tricia

Hines, Callie

Mehle, Molly

Noltie, Caitlynn