South’s hip hop dance crew De la Cru allows members to express themselves throughout school by performing for pep rallies, school assemblies and many more events.

According to senior Julia Walker, one of the biggest parts of a performance is the audience’s reaction.

“It pumps me up when I hear people cheering…and gets me more amped up and adds to the performance,” Walker said.

Sophomore Chloe McKerr also explains she enjoys performing for the school, because she loves to entertain people.

“It’s fun to get the crowd going and [see] the spirit of the school,” McKerr says.

Junior Gladys Lascota explains how she first became interested in De la Cru after watching their performance in the Variety Show. According to Lascota, she especially enjoyed De la Cru’s creativity and the image they presented.

“I thought [De la Cru was] really amazing,” Lascota said. “They had a ton of costumes which really took the performance to a whole new level, so I really looked up to them in that way.”

Lascota later joined De la Cru, because she had a passion for dancing and enjoyed De la Cru’s forms of dancing.

“[The choreography] wasn’t entirely hip hop, it was a mixture of a lot of different things,” Lascota said. “I thought it was really cool how they incorporated a lot of aspects.”

According to Walker, De la Cru also encourages males to join the team. Although only one male joined De la Cru last year, three males are now apart of the team.

“[The guys] are actually being a lot more committed this year like they’re coming to more practices and doing all the things we do,” Walker said. “They actually want to do the dance with us, and be apart of a team which is really cool.”

Although there are several members that make up the De la Cru team, and all the members can contribution to the choreography or music. Senior Cassidy Henry explains how the team always work together for each practice and performance.

“The group is pretty cohesive,” Henry said. “Everyone comes to perform and work together and it’s a good time.”

According to Henry, each member is always able to learn from each other, because they are very united. This allows each member to take away a lesson and learn about themselves.

According to McKerr, each member is able to act as a leader and have equal contributions to help De la Cru captains Madeline Sprowls and Grace Yang. Many join De la Cru not only for their love for dancing, but also for being apart of team. In order to prepare for De la Cru auditions, students are advised to practice the choreography or take a few dance classes.

“If you’re trying to make a dance team… really practice the dance and put your own style to it because that’s what [the coach is] really looking for,” McKerr said.

Henry also explains that De la Cru is a welcoming environment whether a students want to be apart of De la Cru or De la Cru club.

“As long as you can keep rhythm you can make it,” Henry said. “[De la Cru] is a very open group and we really like people to contribute and keep our name in the spotlight.”