Newbury Park’s best dance crews did not miss a beat
This year’s Best Dance Crew was composed of 12 creative performances from girls’ flag football, wrestling, girls’ and boys’ soccer, track, cross country, football, boys’ water polo, theater, softball, girls’ volleyball and baseball. The top five crews included girls’ volleyball, theater, cross country, girls soccer as runner up, and the 2025 Best Dance Crew winners, baseball. Best Dance Crew has become a very popular event for the Newbury Park High School [NPHS] dance team to fundraise money early in the year.
Starting her 22nd year teaching dance at NPHS, Cameo Carolan has watched the production of Best Dance Crew grow over time. “When we first started the program, it was called Dancing with the Star Panthers. It was a duo competition, just like Dancing with the Stars. […] We did that for years, and then more people wanted to be involved,” Carolan said.
Since the pandemic, Best Dance Crew’s audience has grown, being moved from the gym to the stadium to accommodate more people. After changing from Dancing with the Stars Panthers to Best Dance Crew, other schools in the area have adopted this event. “I always had the idea of doing a show like this, but no one really wanted to try it out. So after I tried it out, we made so much money that now almost all the schools in our area do this,” Carolan said.
Having decided to join Best Dance Crew to make more memories with the flag football team, Molly Harris, junior, was looking forward to being able to spend time with her team outside of their typical practices and games. When it comes to the actual event, although the performers are nervous, getting to see their friends and family in the stands makes the whole experience more rewarding. “[Best Dance Crew] is just a really fun event where you get to see a lot of people you know on different sports teams come together and participate in a fun competition where you get to dance and people have crazy outfits, and it’s always a fun time,” Harris said.
For Destiny Nash, senior and dance team captain, Best Dance Crew was a chance to share her passion for dance, teaching the baseball team. The NPHS dance team spent three to four hours choreographing and had a limited number of practices to teach them to the team. Rehearsals focused on reviewing steps, cleaning routines and making the performances more entertaining for the crowd. “The most challenging part is having to go over the basics with the sports teams because we have to remember that they really don’t know anything,” Nash said. “Steps that may seem simpler to us are harder for them, so just really knowing how to overly explain things.”
Nash felt that the highlight of Best Dance Crew was connecting with students she may not normally interact with and getting to watch them work on something outside of their comfort zone. “It’s just really fun to get to share our hobbies and stuff and just get to connect,” Nash said.
Best Dance Crew was able to create a place for the school and community to come together and enjoy seeing familiar faces perform. “I think it’s the best way to see a large portion of the school involved in one thing, and it’s such a celebration,” Carolan said.
