By Laurel Nicholson and Atlas Hapeman
Throughout the entirety of the first semester, dance students at Ventura High School have been prepping and working immensely hard for their fall showcase: Dancing With The Cougars, in which all Dance 1, Dance 2 and both the Hip-Hop and Dance Team will be performing choreography of various genres. New to this year, dancers from the VHS dance program have picked their favorite teachers to participate with them in VHS’ 2024 Dancing With The Cougars: a dance competition with a chance at winning an exclusive trophy. The showcase will be held in the auditorium on Feb. 2, at 7 p.m.. The seats will be first come first serve, and tickets can be bought on EventBrite by searching “Dancing With The Cougars” or through vhsdance.com. Currently, ticket prices to the show are $8 for students and $12 for adults; however, tickets will also be sold at the door, but the price will increase to $11 for students and $15 for adults, cash only. VHS Dance and the participating teachers are ready to shine in the spotlight for the trophy; get ready for a night full of talented dancers and even a few dances from your favorite teachers, such as Grace Ellberg.
Ellberg is only one of the many teachers performing at Dancing With The Cougars. She has been competing her whole life through sports, as well as participating in dance classes and partaking in theater as a high school student. However, Dancing With The Cougars will mark her first time ever participating in a dance competition. When asked about her feelings as the showcase approaches, she said, “I am super excited, my partner and I have been working really hard to put on a good show for everyone, so I’m really pumped.” In addition to her excitement in anticipation of the showcase, Ellberg said she and her partner have a 100 percent shot at winning. When asked about her team’s greatest strengths, she said, “My partner is one of my students, so we already have a good relationship, and we both really like our songs and bring a lot of enthusiasm to it.”
Dance & Rhythmics 1 student, Eric Garcia ‘27, has been introduced to the life of dancing and all that it has to offer in the semester. When asked about his initial thoughts of his first ever VHS Dance showcase, he said, “I think it’s very stressful at some moments because you want to dance well, but, I am also very excited to see how great it turns out and see everyone in the crowd cheer us on.” As he has navigated through the first semester of dance, he has learned what it means to be patient through having to learn various dances, all while having patience for both himself and others.
That is only a snippet of what our interviewees had to say about Dancing with the Cougars. With all of this being said, VHSl’s dance community hopes it has convinced you to attend our fall semester dance performance. The other teachers competing are: Linda. Bergfeld, Jennifer Eggertsen, Elizabeth Botello, Arden Smith, Jose Luis Sanchez, Craig Carey and Dr. Elizabeth Mainz. Tickets can be bought online at EventBrite or at the door of the auditorium the day of the competition, February 2nd at 7:00pm. Dress nice and remember to be ready to vote for your favorites!
