Dancing for a Cause (DFC) is an organization that gives students a chance to use their passion for dance to make a difference in the community. This club assists various charities within the area by raising money through performances that the members put on. Junior Isabel Ma has participated in DFC for the past two years and has had many different experiences with this club.

“We perform at many different charity events and people pay money to watch us perform,” Ma said. “We are going to an event called Liberty for North Korea. We help a lot of non-profit organizations.”

Liberty for North Korea is just one of the many charities that DFC donates to. In addition, profits from various performances are contributed to many charities affiliated with children’s hospitals.

“The main charity we donate to is St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital,” senior David Zhang said. “However, in the past, we have donated to other charities. Just recently we donated our profit to Spirit of Children.”

Aside from making a difference in a charitable sense, DFC also strives to make a difference in the ability of the dancers. For example, the dancers practice various drills and exercises in order to help improve their dancing capabilities.

“We do conditioning sometimes,” Ma said. “Most of the time we learn choreography and then we just clean it up to make sure we know every move. Then by the end of the year, we know all these different dance moves and techniques that we can apply to a freestyle.”

While people might think that this program requires a lot of background knowledge concerning dance, all that is needed to be a member is hard work, determination and a passion for dancing.

“All dancers have to start somewhere,” Zhang said. “To join DFC, you don’t have to have previous dance experience. All you need is commitment and dedication to learn.”

People do not always notice the details that go into choreography. DFC focuses on hip hop rather than other types of dance, placing importance on aspects pertaining to this style. Hip hop is often viewed as a style of dance that is done with ease and very little attention to detail, when in reality, it focuses on precision in order to give it the seamless look that is often eye-catching to audiences.

“A lot of people underestimate how much technique hip hop requires,” Zhang said. “I tend to focus more on teaching a dancer’s foundation and then building off of that.”

While choreography plays an important role within the club, another crucial aspect to this organization is the fact that it has a stronger impact than solely improving physical techniques. DFC has inspired the members to strengthen their priorities in order to become better dancers. Senior Rishi Desai claims that DFC changed his outlook on dancing as well as his life.

“Dancing inspired me to do everything wholeheartedly,” Desai said. “It matured me as a person and solidified my goals. It has changed my culture, lifestyle and my friends.”

Reaching goals and attaining new techniques are both very rewarding for the members of DFC, especially when combined with helping others.