Name: Carmen Leung

Grade: 9

Fine Art: Red Rhythm

Years of Experience: 1

Wingspan: Why did you decide to join the drill team as a freshman?

Leung: “I decided I wanted to join the drill team because I’ve been dancing for so long and I wanted to see how jazz and hip hop was.”

Wingspan: How long have you been dancing, and what kind of dancing have you done before?

Leung: “I’ve been dancing for about ten years now and I’ve mainly done folklore for Chinese dance.”

Wingspan: What’s it like being the only freshman on the team?

Leung: “It’s definitely really scary in the beginning,  but all of the people there are so welcoming and they’ll help you with any problems you have.”

Wingspan: What’s been the best and the hardest part of being the only freshman on the team?

Leung: “It’s hard to relate to a lot of the classes that people have but when I have problems in my own class I can ask them for help and they’ll help me.”

Wingspan: How have the upperclassmen on the team helped you get better at dancing?

Leung: “ Seeing how the dance really inspires me to become better, and I try really hard after seeing them dance.”

Wingspan: What’s something new you’ve learned since joining the drill team?

Leung: “I’ve learned that dancing is not only like flexibility it’s more of style as well as facials.”

Wingspan: Do you feel like you have to work harder than the other team members to keep up?

Leung: “For sure, all of them work really fast and I’ve definitely learned to go with their pace.”

Wingspan: What keeps you going when you’re feeling tired or challenged?

Leung: “I think of our goal and how competition is so soon to encourage myself.”

Wingspan: Has being the only freshman made you look at practice or performances differently?

Leung: “It’s the first time that I’m doing all of these things so I told myself it’s okay to mess up but I also do wanna try hard because I don’t want the seniors to feel like they have done a bad job.”

Wingspan: What do you think is the most important thing to have as a drill team member?

Leung: “I feel like working as a team and knowing all of our personalities and how they mesh well together is really important cause we wanna have a good team to have good dances.”

Wingspan: Do you feel more confident as a dancer since joining the team?

Leung: “For sure, I’ve so many new skills I wouldn’t have learned otherwise and it’s definitely really fun learning them.”

Wingspan: What advice would you give to other freshmen who might want to join the team next year?

Leung: “Definitely go for it, there’s nothing really you can lose and it’s so fun meeting new people!”