If you walk into the dance studio on a Friday afternoon, you will find members of the Cantico Club filling the space with their energy and enthusiasm. The close community allows people to be vulnerable and to show off their different styles of dance.

Cantico is an audition-based dance club that invites all students to try out. The club is advised by dance and wellness teacher Mayra Hernandez, but is almost entirely student-run, giving the students in the club a significant amount of freedom. The club meets every other week on Fridays and usually performs at the pep rally preceding the Powerpuff game, some halftime shows and the annual showcase, Progressions.

Senior Jordan Yoke, a co-captain of the club, said that her favorite part of the club is that it provides a community for passionate dancers.

“Cantico provides a community for people to share their love for dance and express their creativity, as well as find new friends,” Yoke said.

Senior Ella Howe, a member of the club, said that although Cantico is primarily considered a club, it has a much greater impact on the lives of the members.

“We kind of are like a little family,” Howe said.

The members of the club do many group bonding activities to help create this community. Junior Luca Santos said that these bonding activities have helped keep the members connected to one another.

“It allows us to get to know each other because a lot of us don’t know each other due to the varying grade levels,” Santos said. “Specifically, the rose-bud-thorn activity has helped us stay connected in each other’s lives and check in on each other.”

Santos said that the club has helped provide a place where she feels connected to a community since the beginning of her high school experience.

“In freshman year, Cantico made high school so much easier of a transition because I was able to go there every Friday and learn new combos with people who were trying to have fun like me,” Santos said. “I remember in freshman year I was given a nickname and I felt like I was part of the group. It definitely gave me a place where I could feel like I belonged.”

Howe said the club has provided a place where she can get to know underclassmen she wouldn’t meet otherwise.

“I think because of [the challenges of the] COVID-19 [pandemic] and the separation I’ve had from school, I haven’t really interacted with any grades below me before,” Howe said. “When I was a freshman everyone was older, and then sophomore year they were at the Old Lincoln School, so this is my first year interacting with underclassmen. It’s nice to get to know them in a more personal setting.”

Overall, Cantico has created a place for dancers to build friendships that allow them to be confident while they dance.

“We are not all best friends, but we are the friends that will be there for you when you’re just having a rough day or to hype you up when you’re doing a combo or just to make you feel good,” Santos said. “Dance is a lot about confidence and vulnerability and I think that this club allows people to be vulnerable with each other and promotes that confidence because of the atmosphere we create in the studio.”