HORELINE
For the first time, the Shorecrest hip-hop team is headed east for a taste of the big time.
The team was scheduled to fly to Orlando, Fla. Thursday to compete in a national dance competition March 2-5.
“We’re all really excited,” senior Juliet Watson said. “We’ve been working really hard to get there.”
For some team members, it will be their first trip out of the Seattle area.
“I think it will be a great bonding experience,” said senior co-captain Micaela Canedo.
The team raised about $20,000 through fundraisers, including a dance showcase in January, to help pay for the trip.
“It’s definitely a milestone for the program to extend what we normally do,” coach Rex Kinney said.
Kinney, a 2000 Shorecrest graduate, said the team has come a long way from when he was on it. Back then, the team did a few performances a year but didn’t compete at the state or national level like it does now.
About 40 teams from New York, California, Florida, Virginia, Wisconsin and Utah are slated to compete.
“Of course, we hope to win,” said junior Amarin Sam of competing at nationals. “We hope to have fun and enjoy each other’s company (too).”
The team performs to a medley of songs from the 1990s, including some Janet Jackson numbers and instrumentals with effects, Kinney said.
“We use the same routine throughout the season but with a lot of additions and changes,” Canedo said.
The team gets ready to perform by using visualization techniques. They loosen up before taking the floor by listening to Sam rap a verse of the song “Laffy Taffy.”
Sam is one of five guys on the team. Most teams that compete in Washington don’t have any guys.
“Guys balance the team out,” Watson said. “If it was all girls we’d butt heads. They’re kind of the comic relief.”
Hip-hop dancing can also be a contact sport, as Watson can attest. She got kicked in the nose during a routine at the Everett Events Center, but had to soldier on and look her best even with watery eyes. The team took first place that day.
The national competition is a tune up for the state competition in Yakima March 23-24. The Scots, who also won the Interlake Invitational Feb. 24, are the defending champions.
This year, the team wants to win the title for Kinney, Watson said.
“We wouldn’t be anywhere near as good as we are without Rex,” she said.
Team members are: Sarah Aitchison, Nina Bernard, Micaela Canedo, Tong Cha, Rene Elemparo, Nicole Forte, Keri Foster, Katrina Freitag, Sandra Gould, Tirhase Haddis, Rosa Kim, Tim Luu, Amarin Sam, Plinette Sanchez, Mari Smith, Michael Uchida, Alexa Vergara, Juliet Watson and Kimberly Wiley.
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