The MV Dance Team competed in Forte 2025 on Saturday, Jan. 25, earning first place in the Small Contemporary division, second in Character and third in Medium Group Hip Hop. The dance competition, held annually at Homestead High School for the past 19 years, featured 19 schools competing across 28 categories.
Established 20 years ago, Forte serves as a major NorCal event for high school dance teams annually and as a fundraiser for HHS. This is the first of three competitions for the year for MVDT, and the best chance to get out the nerves for the rest of the season and see how their performances work visually on an official competition floor, according to Head Coach Joy Lee.
“I’m super duper proud of them,” Lee said. “They put in so much hard work for this, and to see it come to fruition is really amazing. I do think that we were a little bit nervous going in, and that might have impacted our performance as a whole, but I could not be prouder.”
To prepare for the competition, the team honed each of their choreographies, which constitutes three solos and five group performances in five divisions: Small Hip Hop, Medium Group Hip Hop, Medium Jazz, Small Contemporary and Character. A difficult aspect in the process of polishing their performances were the last-minute changes to the groups’ choreographies, according to freshman Noah Guan.
“Last minute changes happen because, of course, we’re always trying to improve our routine,” Guan said. “We normally change it about one week before, so it’s actually really challenging trying to get that into muscle memory before the competition.”
Eight judges of various backgrounds in the dance world, selected by the Homestead Dance Team coaches, evaluated the performances. Each routine is scored on a 100-point scale, with sub-categories ranging from technique and formations to energy and facial expression. Senior Palakdeep Bassan recognizes the tension that comes with this stringent and structured system.
“I’ve done performances before, so it wasn’t too stressful,” Bassan said. “It’s definitely different knowing you’re being ranked and judged on a point scale though, so it was a little more nerve wracking. But I think the thing you have to tell yourself is, ‘OK, I’m here because I love to dance and to really enjoy the experience.’”
According to Lee, to quell the team’s nerves, the MVDT captains energized the team before going on stage. However, surprisingly, the energy also came from the support of other schools participating in the competition, according to Bassan. Guan agrees with the sentiment, expressing appreciation for the cheers from teams in the audience.
“It’s really encouraging seeing the other teams also cheering you on,” Guan said. “I thought we were all rivals, but now I know that it’s really fun being here with all the other teams.”
Ultimately, at the end of the competition, Lee said what the MVDT will take away from the competition is not only their first, second or third place ranks, but the products they were able to showcase and the experience they were able to savor.
“Seeing them work week after week in class and watching all their hard work come to a head is like a physical reward,” Lee said. “The reward isn’t necessarily the placement we get or the trophy — the competition itself is the reward.”