Ooh, zombie dancers >=D
In the process of searching for video of my little sister's team's Open Jazz National Championship-winning dance routine, which for some reason loads with no sound as the default setting -- you just have to turn it up -- (my sister kicks some serious butt...how many women with multiple sclerosis are out there winning dance Nationals multiple times?), I stumbled across a different routine that just boggled my mind with its awesomeness.
Since dancers unfortunately have to share their Nationals with a bunch of vapid cheerleaders, the atmosphere at these things is pretty dippy and "tee hee" and pink and ZOMG girly! ::nausea:: The interviews tend to be conducted by squeaky ex-cheerleaders who do that thing where their voices rising make every sentence an unintentional question, and the answers they get tend to be along the lines of "Well, like, we chose a WEDDING theme? Because, like, last year at Nationals, *tee-hee!*, one of our coaches was totally gonna get married after, and it, like, made us think of it? So, like, our pom-poms look like flower things, and, like, we had our moms make us these garters?..." And ohgod I can't go on. x_X
And then there's the West Springfield team in the (I believe) hip-hop division, who describe themselves as always being a bit...different. The site doesn't have a video of the whole routine (you miss the part where they give themselves creepy Joker smiles with red paint while dancing), but what it does have just makes me chortle with glee. I bet they spent the entire time not on-stage freaking out the other dancers with their creepy costumes. I love it, especially because I remember from when I danced just how intense the pressure to conform to the girly-girl norm is.
Some other interesting routines:
Natalie says every year that the Japanese teams are frighteningly synchronous, and this pom team is no exception, even though the video cuts out the best part of their routine, where they look like some kind of Japanese Rockette-kicking schoolgirl hive mind: Narita Vigor. This Tokorozawa variety team is pretty incredible on the timing, spacing, and synchrony, too -- that is not easy.
Unfortunately, there are no tap routines that I can link to, because tap gets no love from the dance establishment. ::whacks them in the back of the head with her tap shoes:: So, here's a not-so-random tap video to make up for the lack. The first guy's my teacher (who is responsible for us having done nifty things like Stomp-inspired routines rather than icky Vegas-style high-heel tapping, ugh), and the third and fourth dancers are pretty awesome as well. Hoofing is <3.
Since dancers unfortunately have to share their Nationals with a bunch of vapid cheerleaders, the atmosphere at these things is pretty dippy and "tee hee" and pink and ZOMG girly! ::nausea:: The interviews tend to be conducted by squeaky ex-cheerleaders who do that thing where their voices rising make every sentence an unintentional question, and the answers they get tend to be along the lines of "Well, like, we chose a WEDDING theme? Because, like, last year at Nationals, *tee-hee!*, one of our coaches was totally gonna get married after, and it, like, made us think of it? So, like, our pom-poms look like flower things, and, like, we had our moms make us these garters?..." And ohgod I can't go on. x_X
And then there's the West Springfield team in the (I believe) hip-hop division, who describe themselves as always being a bit...different. The site doesn't have a video of the whole routine (you miss the part where they give themselves creepy Joker smiles with red paint while dancing), but what it does have just makes me chortle with glee. I bet they spent the entire time not on-stage freaking out the other dancers with their creepy costumes. I love it, especially because I remember from when I danced just how intense the pressure to conform to the girly-girl norm is.
Some other interesting routines:
Natalie says every year that the Japanese teams are frighteningly synchronous, and this pom team is no exception, even though the video cuts out the best part of their routine, where they look like some kind of Japanese Rockette-kicking schoolgirl hive mind: Narita Vigor. This Tokorozawa variety team is pretty incredible on the timing, spacing, and synchrony, too -- that is not easy.
Unfortunately, there are no tap routines that I can link to, because tap gets no love from the dance establishment. ::whacks them in the back of the head with her tap shoes:: So, here's a not-so-random tap video to make up for the lack. The first guy's my teacher (who is responsible for us having done nifty things like Stomp-inspired routines rather than icky Vegas-style high-heel tapping, ugh), and the third and fourth dancers are pretty awesome as well. Hoofing is <3.