The first beats of the song hit and two dancers leap out from the sides of the gym bleachers into a front flip. Within a second, they are enveloped by the rest of their team. The group moves as one body, but there is something about these two that, from the start, make them stand out. These dancers are Nate Horn and Isaac Dorfman. 

Despite being the only two boys in the 17 person troupe, they make talented additions to their team. 

Horn has been dancing for a year and a half, trained entirely in hip hop, and Dorfman has danced for 8 years, training mostly in hip hop, breakdancing, with a bit of modern and ballet as well. Their variety of training backgrounds diversifies the group’s limitless talent showcased.

Both Horn and Dorfman formerly danced with the company RoCo (Fairfax and Mill Valley) as part of groups like FX Projects and New Constitutions, respectively. What drew these students to Dance Troupe was a mixture of a desire for more challenging choreography and continuing their dance careers. 

“All of [the RoCo] routines were so incredibly similar. […] By the end of the session, I was just bored with the choreography, and with Dance Troupe, it’s unique because we make our own dances and we can just tweak them and add changes and stuff along the way,” Horn said.

 Their coach, Lily Ashby (along with student choreographers within the team), has made consistent efforts to showcase their specific talents in the dances that they perform, giving them small solos and stunts. 

“There is a similar dynamic in Dance Troupe to New Constitutions,” Dorfman said. “Since it’s students teaching the majority of the routines, each person kind of has their own stylistic choices to make the dances their own way. Each dance is going to be different, depending on who teaches it.”

The sophomore duo loves their team’s community, as Horn said “Everyone on the team is super tight and it’s just like a different community, so me and Isaac don’t really get treated any differently than anyone else on the team.” The group gives them the freedom to dance without boundaries and stereotypes. 

“They’re both really comfortable with who they are. They’re always having fun and laughing at every practice,” said senior and co-captain (along with Sophie Sorensen) Kyra Smith-Stewart about the two.

Being a female-dominated team and sport, the choreography tends to be more feminine. The two use this to their advantage, modifying to showcase their own, individual styles and interpretations.

“If there is a move that is really complicated and no one is getting then we’ll change it, but if there’s a move that’s super feminine, then me and Isaac will usually tweak it,” Horn said. “Just enough so that it still fits in,” Dorfman clarified.

“There are some times that you can’t do that and you gotta suck it up and just throw it back.” Horn added with a laugh.

The two were sure to stress that Dance Troupe is always in need of more boys on the team, as Horn said “To all the guys that are thinking about joining [Dance Troupe], just send it, try out.” Dance Troupe tryouts begin during the first week of the next school year.