The Claremont Colleges Ballroom Dance Company

The Claremont Colleges Ballroom Dance Company continued its history of successful competition at the end of March, taking first and second place in the formation event at the San Francisco Open.

Twenty-eight students from the CCBDC drove to San Francisco with coach Paul Roach (PO ’07) to perform two formation routines with twelve members each: “Made in the ‘80s,” Latin medley, and the national championship “Harry Potter” standard medley. Competing against five other teams from across California, the dancers performed to boisterous applause and swept the top honors, with a first-place finish for “Harry Potter” and a second-place finish for “Made in the 80’s.”

Though the Company is no stranger to competitive success, this is the first year it has taken two teams to this prestigious professional competition. It is also the first year the CCBDC has the swept two places. In past years the CCBDC has been consistently at the top, with a four year winning streak at San Francisco, numerous local victories, and a six-year-long undefeated streak at the college nationals in Ohio. Roach decided to build on this record by proving that the company’s roster was deep enough to support two competitive teams.

Roach explains the Company's success as a result of its dedication to supporting the entire 5- College Claremont community: “The Claremont Colleges Ballroom Dance program does an exceptional job at fostering the community and leadership in the arts that is necessary for success in the formation event,” says Roach, “It is very rewarding to see other institutions recognizing this progress, and to see our hard work inspire them to reach higher as well. And the students have worked incredibly hard - it is difficult to overestimate their dedication and enthusiasm for the company and the program."

Indeed, the Claremont dancers spent most of their free time in the fall semester preparing the Harry Potter medley for national competition, a new experience both for Roach as a choreographer and for most of the students as competitors. The fifteen dancers involved in the routine spent twelve to sixteen hours a week practicing, in addition to group technique classes and other responsibilities. After receiving a standing ovation and a first-place trophy, the happy-but-tired group returned to Claremont for a well-earned break, and Roach began choreographing a second medley and training a second group of dancers, as well as preparing for the Company's annual Spring Concert.

The new ‘80s-themed medley debuted at UC San Diego’s Dance by the Shores, and went on to achieve an upset victory over the Harry Potter medley at Caltech’s Dance of the Roses. A friendly rivalry sprung up between the two teams, who cheered enthusiastically for each other at competitions but pushed each other to perform their best at San Francisco. When the results were announced, cheers of “Claremont” and “CCBDC” were heard from around the floor as representatives from both formation teams went up to receive their trophies.

After the formation competition was concluded, Company members stayed to watch the professional competitions and pick up tips to improve their dancing. A small group stayed through the weekend to compete individually on Sunday: Jay Daigle (PO ’08) and Lauren Wann (SCR ’10) took third in pre-novice Standard; David Carrington (PO ’10) and Kelly Hewitt (SCR ’08) took third in pre-novice Latin and fifth in novice Latin; and Chris Fiorello (PO ’11) and Bailey Busch (SCR ’11) took seventh in novice Latin.