Dance team hosts events to raise money for installation of new floor in classroom

Varsity and junior varsity dance team members practice on their new floor, which installed on jan.6 after the team raised $8,500 to fund the project. The team raised money for the dance floor with events including Lip Sync and the Mini Mustang dance camp.

Bella Macleod

Staff Writer

The Mira Costa Dance team completed its installation of a new dance floor on Jan. 6 in room 81, after raising $8,500.

The dance team decided to raise money for a new dance floor because the previous floor was inadequate for dancing, Dance Team Fundraising Vice President Rita Moorman said. In order to raise money, the dance team held multiple fundraisers starting at the beginning of the school year.

“Even though the school has no money to give us, the school administration and school board were very supportive of this endeavor and approved [the new floor],” Moorman said.

The old floor had a cement base with carpet on top and caused injuries to the team and other Costa sports including yoga, Moorman said.

“There was no spring to the [previous] floor [and] not only do these girls do jumps, they do jumps where they come down on their knees, so it was very hard on joints,” Moorman said.

The dance team’s fundraisers included a holiday wreath sale, the Lip Sync competition, a dance camp and Club Days. The Dance team’s Mini Mustang dance camp, raised over $2,000, while Lip Sync, an event in which Costa extracurriculars and clubs at Costa perform dances and lip sync, raised $3,000 from ticket and raffle sales, Moorman said.

“The finished product should last many years, and provide a safer floor that gives when the girls land on it and has the right amount of traction for jumps and turns for all types of dance,” parent volunteer Matt Anders said.

The booster club decided not to hire an outside company to install the floor because it would have cost approximately $20,000. Parent volunteer Randy Childs was able to get a discount for the new floor from the supplier company, Topanga Lumber, and Mira Costa’s maintenance department’s carpenters installed the flooring.

The Dance Team currently practices on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays after school in room 81. The dance team starts its Mini Mustang dance camp today for dance team members to dance and play games with kids of ages ranging from first to eighth grade.

“The new floor has been very beneficial since the old floor was concrete, which was very difficult to dance on,” Varsity Dance Team member and sophomore Ambria Benson said. “This new floor makes it a lot easier to [dance] during all of our practices.”