On April 17th, 2014, West High hosted a competition that had a very similar resemblance to Dancing with the Stars. Two dancers danced together in a duo in which they choose a specific genre and danced their fullest against 9 other couples. The show featured a wide variety of music ranging from Bollywood, Contemporary, Hip Hop, and Jazz.
The people involved in this competition included the MCs Kaleb Davies (11) and Lauren Ernst (12), and well known dancers such as Shigeto Nakano (12), Rika Murai (12), and Noelle Carriger (12). After everyone finished, the audience text a number to vote who they believed were the best dance duo. Out of the ten dances, Luke Shim (12) and Rika Murai (12) won first place, dancing in the category of Bollywood, a dance that originates from the Hindu culture. Jeremy Giampaoli (12) and Noelle Carriger (12) were awarded second place, where they danced to Contemporary and Hip Hop music. Third place went to Shigeto Nakano (12) and Joelle Byun (12), who danced to Hip Hop. As a unique finale, last year’s West High Best Dance Duo winners, Thomas Oh (12) and Sabrina Lin (12) performed a special routine to close the night.
From the audience, Justine Hu (10) believed, “the dance duo was actually pretty fun. This is my first time ever going to this competition– and it was great watching them bust their moves!” Many people specifically enjoyed the dances done by Nakano/ Byun, and Shim/ Murai. Hu said, “I really wish I actually joined dance. This event actually makes me want to do dance or hip hop.” Michelle Chu (11) stated the competition was “extremely fun. It was very fun and amusing to watch all my friends dance their fullest in this competition.” When asked about the results, Chu said, “everyone is a winner, not just the top three. Everyone was fantastic and it was shown by the effort they put into their works.” Even the dancers had a lot of fun participating in this popular event. Jeremy Giampaoli (12) said, “When I decided to enter WHBDD, I wasn’t expecting to do well. It ended up being a great experience and I did pretty well. All the dancers had a great time and built up respect and new friendships with each other.”
Even though Shim and Murai were the announced winners, all couples involved in the competition were champions. The WHBDD included great dancing, fantastic speaking from the MCs, and a positive atmosphere from the audience. From the success of this year’s competition, West High’s Best Dance Duo is surely not going to disappoint in future contests.
