With benefit of experience, Cheyenne High dance team has high hopes

Members of Cheyenne High School’s new hip-hop dance team were confident when they attended their first local competition last year.

They left with culture shock and a last-place ranking.

“It was like hip-hop dance, but it’s not like our culture’s hip-hop dance,” Cheyenne dance coach Kanesha Matlock said. “When we thought about hip-hop dance, we think about things like (singer/dancer) Chris Brown and the latest dance challenges. And it was a total different aspect.”

They looked different, too. While other dance teams were matching from head to toe in “elaborate outfits,” Cheyenne’s team wore T-shirts and jeans, Matlock said.

“When we ask for parent participation, we may get about 25 percent at the most — let alone asking them for money,” Matlock said. “We can’t hinder the kids because the parents don’t have the money.”

By the time the team took part in a second competition shortly thereafter — the United Spirit Association (USA) Nevada Open — the school was able to purchase uniforms for the dancers. But points were deducted because a couple of performers were wearing different-colored shoes.

Team members once again didn’t place, but judges complimented them on their “swag.”

“Most of the teams used the same music and dance moves, and we had a whole different style of dance,” said team co-captain Brezhane Johnson, 18.

The team heeded the judges’ criticism and went back to the drawing board for its second dance season. Matlock hired a choreographer to create a competitive piece that meshed with the team’s distinctive style and a second coach, Delilah Rodriguez, who assisted with adding tricks, tumbling and illusions to the routine. Rodriguez had coached another team prior to Cheyenne.

“I explained what the judges are looking for,” Rodriguez said. “I saw that tricks were a big factor. For me, it’s like when you take a test and you haven’t studied. I basically gave them the answers to the test.”

They practiced several hours a day, five days a week — and sometimes twice a day — when they prepared for competition, Matlock said.

The team also held several fundraisers, serving items at concession stands at basketball games and selling holiday grams.

The team sported a different attitude at its fourth competition, at February’s United Spirit Association (USA) Nevada Open. Of the six teams that competed in the medium hip-hop division, Cheyenne placed third, following first-place Basic and Foothill.

“We felt like winners,” Matlock said.

The team earned a trophy and qualified for the USA Dance Nationals, scheduled for late March. But the team wasn’t able to raise enough money to attend.

“They were a little hurt by it because it’s about money,” Matlock said. “It’s not that they don’t have the talent to do it. To go from placing last to now we’re in the middle of the pack, they wanted to prove themselves a bit more.”

The students were disappointed, but they are confident they will continue to get better.

“When I found out we couldn’t go, it was heartbreaking,” co-captain Armauri Bryant, 18, said. “But I love my team, and I know we’ll have way more opportunities down the road.”

Johnson added, “We didn’t regret anything. … last year, we came in thinking we were the best and really weren’t. Now they see how we’ve improved and maybe next year we can come harder.”

The team hopes to compete in USA Hip Hop Dance Internationals in August in Phoenix.

Once tryouts for the dance team are complete in the first week of April, team members will start fundraising right away so they can compete beyond the local level, Matlock said.

The coaches said they are determined to build a strong dance program to uplift Cheyenne students’ spirits.

“We want to draw (students’) attention and make them come here,” Rodriguez said. “I think building extracurricular programs will get rid of the negative stigma that North Las Vegas has.”

To reach North View reporter Kailyn Brown, call 702-387-5233 or email kbrown@viewnews.com. Follow her on Twitter: @KailynHype.