The crowd pleasing RHS Varsity Dance Team brought home not one, but two, first place trophies! The 27 member dance team led by Coach Taylor Bobay participated in the Woodland Regional Dance Competition this past Saturday. The competition included over 19 schools from the CT area. The Tigers placed first in the hip hop category and first in the overall Varsity team category in an exciting and stunning upset against favored reigning winner Fairfield Warde. The girls have been working tirelessly on this routine since October and the choreography that Coach Taylor has created is both challenging and unique.
Coach Taylor is an RHS grad and was also a member of the RHS dance team during her time as a Tiger. It has been her mission to bring the girls to the next level and earn the distinction of being recognized as a Varsity sport. When asked how she felt about this past weekend's win, she said, "We made history this past weekend. I was a member of the team the first time RHS Dance ever attended a competition back in 2008 and we came in last place. The next time the program attended a competition was during my first year coaching in 2017 where we placed 3rd at our local competition and 4th at States. From there, it took four more years of learning, growing, and guiding this team to reach their full potential in order to achieve what we were able to achieve on Saturday. Over the past five years, we have done well to make a name for ourselves around Ridgefield with our intricate and memorable halftime performances, but now we are finally making a name for ourselves across the State of CT and that feels incredible. We are looking to continue to get recognized for our talent, passion, hard work, and dedication at the State Competition in February. Our program is a true Cinderella story. In the words of one of my Captains after the win, "They should write a book about us!" At the end of the day, winning was and is a tremendous feeling, but it's the impact these girls have had on my life and the impact I've had on theirs that will last a lifetime and is worth more to me than any trophy." Anyone who thinks dancing isn't a sport should spend an afternoon training with this team! We want to wish them luck as they continue on to the CT State Dance Competition next month. Let's go Tigers!
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