On February 8th, UCSD Dancesport Team set on a journey to their most successful competition for this year. The journey started with the drive to Cal Poly SLO, the host of the competition. While you might think that it would be a long and tiresome drive, on the contrary, it was an invaluable bonding experience for some of the members. Why? When you are stuck in a car for such a long time, you end up having meaningful conversations with the people that you might have never had a chance to do so. In fact, some of the cars even made several stops throughout their trip to Cal Poly to practice their dance routines in the public, which people around them found very entertaining.

Now, the day of the competition. Everyone was in a competition mode: slicked hair, nice costumes, and shiny shoes. Even though many were nervous to show their talents, the team did an amazing job, with many couples placing in events. Matthew Panelo and Nicole Wells placed first in rookie/vet Standard waltz and tango and Latin cha cha and rumba, and placed second in Standard quickstep. He also partnered with Emily Liu to place first in Newcomer waltz and tango, second in Newcomer cha cha, and third in Newcomer rumba. Matthew finally partnered with Carla Chehadeh, and they placed third in Bronze Latin rumba and Standard waltz. Soraya Gargash placed third in Rookie/follow Latin rumba and cha cha. Clara Hess and George Troulis placed second in Newcomer Standard waltz. Joan Valls and Amanda Ridgeway placed first in Silver Latin cha cha and rumba and third in Silver Latin jive. And Nicole Wells placed first in Novice Latin Jive. However, the highlight of the night was watching two professional dancers, Maksim Leonov and Anastasia Zhuchenko, do their outstanding performance. After the competition, we went to get some ice cream and cookies to celebrate our victory.

This journey was certainly one of the highlights of the winter quarter for so many team members and we as a team are excited to see what the future beholds.