Guys dancing towards fourth title

BrianBy: Zuhayr Alam

The all male dance team has established a strong history of winning. The team has only been around for six years, and last year, the team won the state competition for the fourth year in a row.

This year, the team has 23 dancers as opposed to last year’s 14 dancers, so prospects of winning a fifth state year are looking good.

Coach Gayle Bruene is encouraged by the team so far.

“They are doing a wonderful job learning the routine so far,” Bruene said. “With a larger group it will take more practice, but they are off to a great start.”

The team has been practicing for the past six weeks and is training hard for the state competition, which is in early December.

The state competition is at the Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines. Each of the participating teams is given a chance to perform in front of judges and a crowd, and after each dance, the teams are scored and ranked. The tournament normally lasts three days because all of the dance teams, such as coed dance, perform.

Senior Hiram Marquez, who is one of four senior captains along with Brian Keiser, Adrian Amjadi and Seth Van Roosendaal, said that there is nothing like performing in the arena.

“At first you’re sort of nervous, but as the dance progresses and all of the men and women in the crowd begin to cheer for you and your team, you start to get excited,” Marquez said. “At the end you realize that all of the weeks of training were worth it.

Also according to Marquez, the team has changed its dance routine a bit from last year.

“We have something special planned this year that is different from dances that we have done in the past,” Marquez said. “If you want to find out what it is, you’ll have to come and watch us on Dec. 5.”

The current team has seven sophomores, nine juniors and eight seniors. The seven sophomores this year are more than the team has ever had, and the team is looking forward to the talent coming through.

Because of this, junior Nathan Doyle says he thinks that the future is bright for All Male.

“All the new guys on the team are learning and catching on quickly, so the team will have a solid base for upcoming years. The new guys will be able to come back next year and encourage others to join so we can continue traditions that make all male dance a blast,” Doyle said.

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