By Danielle Smith
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Dedicating months to creating and practicing the choreography, Blank Canvas Crew competed in the Bridge Dance Competition on Dec. 3 in Los Angeles. Including MHS students Junior Alyssa Chow and Freshman Caitlin Ebia, Blank Canvas Crew represented Hawaii against 22 other dance groups from around the country. The competition was held in hopes of promoting healthy and happy living.
“Knowing that we in- spired people in the audience, just having them come up to you personally saying ‘you guys did amazing stuff, you’re number one in our hearts’ like that was so rewarding. To me, we already won from the beginning for even having the opportunity to perform.” Chow expressed.
Through six months of rigorous practices, the hours spent with one another cre- ated a strong bond amongst each member. These new- found friendships served as motivation for the support the team had for each other. “These past six months have been really long and hard and a lot of us went through problems with family or financial problems so pray-
ing for each other is always a big (thing). We aren’t really friends in a dance team. We are a real big family, in my opinion, and we are a real big family who is always there for each other,” Chow said. Ebia added, “When we entered the competition mode, we were all just friends, but through the process, we became more of a family, like brothers and sisters.”
Although the crew placed seventh overall, it didn’t diminish the excitement and rush felt during the competi- tion. “I feel like our crew put Hawaii on the map by even going to an out-of-state com- petition. My crew danced our hearts out,” Ebia said. Chow added, “This is our first year doing this and we are the first team out of Hawaii to com- pete at this competition so it was such a big thing because we were going up against people who have been doing this for years. But we still managed to place in the top 10 and losing by only frac- tions of points against these amazing teams that have been doing this for a living, we’re just like, ‘Wow, we did really well.’”
Blank Canvas Crew in- tends to continue participat- ing in more competitions and grow together not only as a team, but a family as well.
