Urban Soul Movement is a community where students are welcome to join, hang out and learn how to dance, primarily breakdancing with some hip hop. Many members join with no dance experience and are able to learn during their weekly Friday meetings after school in the dance room. Senior Sherwin Zhang wanted to join because he was interested in learning how to dance and he thought it would be fun.

“[Dancing is] very artistically difficult, but also very expressive at the same time,” Zhang said. “Anyone can easily tell how good it is just by looking at it. […] I like comparing dancing and music a lot. In music, it’s hard to tell the skill level of people, but in dancing, [you can tell who looks good], at least for me. I thought dancing was a really cool way to show off skill.”

Not only do members learn how to move to music, they also have performing opportunities, such as the Spring Show, a performance put on by MVHS’ Dance Team showcasing different dance groups around MVHS. However, most members don’t hear about USM through Spring Show, they hear about it from their friends.

Senior members of USM reflect back on why they first joined. Scroll down to read each of their stories.