Last month, Riviera had the distinct honor of welcoming Jonni Rogers, the esteemed UM Sunsations dance coach, to teach our Varsity and JV dance teams their first-ever dance masterclass. This was a unique opportunity for our teams to learn new ideas, techniques, and choreography styles from such an experienced coach.

Coach Rogers started the class with a few warm-ups and stretching techniques before moving on to the more substantial part of the session. During this time, she taught them a lyrical combination and choreography they could use or add on to for future performances. According to the Omaha School of Dance and Music, lyrical dance is defined as a style that combines ballet and jazz dancing techniques, which is at the core of our dance program.

After the girls finished dancing, they had the opportunity to ask Rogers questions about the college dance team world, including how much time they should expect to dedicate to dance and how to balance academics and athletics. Cristina Ortega, a varsity dancer, believes that Rogers’ advice was very insightful and helped her understand what her future would look like as a college dancer.

“She told us that at UM they usually practice three times a week from 7 to 10 p.m. and compete at nationals along with football games,” said Ortega.

Ms. Rodriguez is always looking for opportunities to help her dancers get real-world experience through competitions, summer training, and masterclasses. She explained that the masterclass “gives them a taste of what to expect if they want to audition for a dance team and to get to learn from an official coach in the college dance world.”

The team has been raising money through bake sales in order to host these coaches, who take time out of their busy schedules to work with our dancers and prepare them for college life and competitions.