Farrington High School’s dance group, Dancers Delite, brought home the victory at the annual Honozulu Dance Competition on March 2, Saturday 2024. This achievement not only marked their success but also put an end to Waipahu High School’s five-year winning streak. The competition included performances from the schools: Waipahu High School, Campbell High School, Moanalua High School, and McKinley High School. Farrington’s Dancers Delite won first place in both the Mega and Varsity divisions.
Vanessa Attardo, the Director of Dancers Delite, expressed her happiness at the achievement of her dancers. Reflecting on the victory, “Winning both divisions was a surreal moment for us,” Attardo said. Attardo credited the win to the team’s tireless effort over the years: the unseen work that goes into their performances. “Our hard work had finally paid off.”
Despite this victory, Attardo highlighted “We want to remain humble and hungry.” For future competitions, the team is committed to improvements. “Every year after our competition we meet to have a potluck and rewatch all the performances from the event. We take the time to look at what went well and what we could still improve on,” Attardo said.
Behind the scenes, the victory was a road to success, one filled with challenges and conflicts. Lynette Manuel, a Sophomore at Farrington High School and a member of Dancers Delite shared her experience. “We started planning and auditioning around November,” Manuel said. “We started practicing right away, having the majority of varsity and mega practices separate.”
“Every year we are always faced with a unique set of challenges,” Attardo said. She shared that the middle school group had lost access to their practice space; as a result, both high school and middle school students had to share the cafeteria. “We also did not have access to an indoor practice facility on the weekends, so our Saturday morning practices battled the weather and condition of the practice space.”
The process of creating the themes and outfits was mostly up to the dancers. “At the end of last school year the students voted on themes,” Manuel said. The dancers are gearing up for their upcoming concert and have decided to synchronize the theme of their outfits and choreography. After brainstorming, the team settled on portraying a lawyer and fast food worker; this was for the competition. As Attardo said, "It was a good coincidence that the 'Good Burger 2' movie was coming out and helped inspire the music and outfits.”
With Dancers Delite's celebration of its recent win, the team is gearing up for what lies ahead in their dance life; with setbacks, they recover as a team and stay determined, awaiting their next performance to showcase their talent.