My KASA Freshmen Dance-off 2017 Experience

By Amy Wang ‘21

I joined KASA Freshmen Dance-off as someone who has never really danced before unless you count high school prom (plus, I’m also extremely clumsy and uncoordinated). Nevertheless, deciding to join was one of the best decisions I made my first semester freshman year.

It all began when an upperclassman I met at a Welcome Week event first invited me through Facebook to a Dance-off informational session, but for reasons forgotten, I could not attend. However, a friend was nice enough to put my name and email down on the interest list. A few days later, I received an email to attend their first workshop, and that was the beginning of one of the most life-changing activities I have ever participated in.

The first workshop was terrifying. Before it really even started, I was already nervous and embarrassed. Even the warm-up stretches had me wide-eyed. The instructor taught his dance and the group went through the workshop. I thought it was over, but then we were split into smaller groups. We had to perform what we learned in front of everyone else.

There were over 100 students present and I wanted to cry.  

In that moment, I actually considered running away or in the least hiding in the bathroom until it was over. Because dance-off accepted dancers of all levels ranging from non-experienced to very experienced, there was definitely the group of amazing freshmen who would stand front and center to perform the routine. The fact that there were freshmen performing everything we learned in only two hours at the right tempo and with confidence that they were hitting every move perfectly (whether or not they were actually doing it right, I wouldn’t know because I knew nothing about dance) terrified me even more. Surprisingly, I somehow built up the courage to go up in the small groups anyway.

Workshops were held every Tuesday and Thursday, and after I attended the first one, I told myself then that I would never return. For some odd reason, I did. Day after day and week after week, I kept going back to the open concrete area behind GFS and continued to embarrass myself in the small groups because I could never do any of the dances correctly if I could remember any parts of it at all.

Eventually came casting and commitment day. Casting was when the freshmen would dance the entire set in groups of 4 to the choreographers to determine which dances they would be in since we could not be in them all. I somehow survived through 3 weeks of workshops and decided that I was going commit to this team and go through casting. What was most touching was that everyone was so supportive of each other. People were willing to meet up at late hours when the gym studios would finally be empty to help each other both before and after casting, even in the days leading up to competition. Regardless of skill level or experience, we were a family.

I survived through casting, but afterwards I learned that we would be further split within our song to smaller groups who would only do certain parts. In all honesty, this is where I felt disappointment. I won’t deny that the many people including myself who did not get into the longer parts, and who ended up with only a few seconds of the song, felt unnecessary and unneeded. I also questioned why I was dedicating so many hours and my entire first semester to this activity where I felt like excess. While the main group was being placed into specific spots based on their skill and performance, the rest of us in the other groups were being randomly placed into spots based on where we happened to be standing in that moment. It was during these times when I doubted my decision to join. I tried my best, and even asked more experienced friends to help me practice for hours outside official practice, but I was still not good enough. During those moments and sometimes for a few hours or even days after, I felt really bad about myself and was no longer enjoying the experience. Nevertheless, I eventually realized that even if I was like a tree in the background of a primary school play, I was still a tree that was needed to make the picture perfect. I continued to practice the part I had because I still had much to learn and could still in the least improve the part that was mine. Regardless of parts or positions, everyone was parts of a whole. We were a team where everyone was needed.

Also, there were ways to get better positions if you were willing to work for them. There were challenges, which was a method for freshmen to compete for each other’s spots. People would perform the part in front of the rest of the team, and the choreographer would decide who would take the spot. As an inexperienced dancer and as a clumsy human being, it was definitely pretty much impossible for someone like me to challenge for certain spots such as the center positions since they were in the hands of more experienced dancers who have danced for years beforehand. But, if one was willing to work harder and practice more, he or she could still try for any spot they wanted.

When challenges were first announced, I kind of stopped listening. I was too scared to challenge anyone. Plus, I have stage fright so a crowd would not do me any good. However, after talking to some friends about a part of a song that I really liked and wanted to be a part of, I was convinced to at least try. It was also a part of the dance-off experience and I wanted to get the most out of this. I submitted a last minute challenge form a few days before the challenges would begin to take place, practiced for several hours over the span of 2 to 3 days, and on the first day of challenges, I was called up. I do not remember much of it. I do remember walking up in front of everybody, closing my eyes and taking a deep breath, and telling myself that I could do it despite my shaking hands telling me otherwise. Once it was all over, I saw the choreographer’s hand raise on my side. I had won, but that was not the end of it. There were also rebuttals. The person who had lost their spot could try again and challenge back at the end of practice if he or she chose to do so, and the fellow freshman I challenged did. Again, I walked up in front of everyone, closed my eyes to take a deep breath, but this time my hands were no longer shaking. Everyone had already seen the mistakes I probably made the first time so that didn’t matter anymore, but more importantly, I already proved myself once. I ended up keeping the spot I won.

As a team and family, we all continued to practice. We would practice the night away, buy Starbucks afterwards, and work on homework assignments until sunrise. I was sleep-deprived and my body was running solely on caffeine, but I was happy. I felt so motivated to improve alongside my teammates. Day after day, I would return to practice ready to work despite my aching knees. We all worked towards the same goal: to win first place and have fun while doing it.

Competition day came and we were ready. There was last minute cleaning that stressed us out, but we were still excited to do our best on stage. The actual performance for competition is a blur to me. I don’t remember much of it, but I remember feeling amazing. Our team finished 3rd place and I’m proud.

I was interested in dancing beforehand, but never thought I could do it. I always watched my dancer friends in awe when they performed and I wished my body could move like theirs. As I saw upperclassmen friends from high school join dance teams in college, I thought to myself, “if only.” I walked by the dance team booths during involvement fair trying my best not to look in their direction in disappointment; I knew I had no chance. However, KASA Freshmen Dance-off gave me the opportunity to step outside of my comfort zone, to gain the confidence to learn new things, and finally to step on that final stage without feeling the stage fright I usually would have felt. I gained new friends, a family, and as cliche as it may sound, memories to last a lifetime. This was my first semester of college, and it was a semester well spent.

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