Patriot dancers pirouette their way into Liberty with Dance club! A fresh start to the school year brought along a dance club where dancers around the school are bringing their passion together.
Senior Emilie Duran wanted to share her love of dancing with Liberty by creating a new Dance club.
“I wanted to share the great joy I felt from sensing the connection between my mind and body with the people at Liberty,” Duran said.
Dancing is a freeing activity involving rhythmic movement articulated by the dancer. A study done by UCLA health noted that dopamine released while you dance frees your body and gives it a sense of relaxation.
“Dancing is shown to be really good for mental health, which is something important to me.” Duran said. “By starting a multi-style dance club, I could help students in that way too.”
Dancers of diverse backgrounds are in the club all collectively creating a freeing and music filled environment.
“Everyone is at different levels,” Junior and Vice President of Dance club Mathew Prather said. “Not everyone at dance club is a dancer. For some this is their first time, and others have been dancing for years,” Prather said.
Dance was not a widely represented part of Liberty, the Drill team being the closest there is to dance. However, Duran saw an opportunity to incorporate more dancing into the school.
“Upon arriving at Liberty as a sophomore out of Covid, I was a little disappointed when there wasn’t a dance club. Although I wasn’t a dancer at the time, I still wanted to join a club where I could explore multiple styles of dance,” Duran said.
After a year of planning out how to create a dance club, Duran brought it together.
“In my junior year, I wanted to create a dance team that was different from drill or cheerleading and is an inclusive place for Patriots to share their love of expression through movement,” Duran said. “We try to incorporate all styles of dance so that every dancer feels like their preferred style is welcomed.”
The club likes to dip into multiple different styles of dancing and genres of music.
“The dance club is very multifaceted. One week we could be doing a lyrical dance to Frank Ocean and the next we could be doing a High School Musical dance,” Duran said. “For the first 10 to 15 minutes, we warm up to whatever the dancers want to listen to, and then we stretch and relax before heading into learning a dance.”
As the year goes on, Duran hopes Dance club will bloom and potentially make some appearances at assemblies. The club anticipates having a winter performance which will serve as a fundraiser for the club.
“For now, we know that we will have a spring and possibly a winter assembly performance,” Duran said.
