Legacy Places First at Reign or Shine Dance Competition

Stuy Legacy, an urban dance team at Stuyvesant, came in first at the New Jersey Institute of Technology’s (NJIT) Reign or Shine XII Dance Competition on November 11. NJIT hosted their 12th annual competition, inviting Legacy and nine other urban dance teams in the New York-New Jersey metropolitan area to compete.

Stuy Legacy was established in 2015 and has since grown to become a competitive team, winning at several elite competitions. For this particular competition, senior and Executive Director Kyle Tau decided to take the team in a different direction in terms of their dance style. Unlike previous competitions where they typically danced to a medley of “hype” hip-hop songs, Tau decided to choreograph this piece to a single song, “Love Me Now” by John Legend. The piece is his way to “appreciate the present with all the things you love, because in the future those things might fade away,” he said in an e-mail interview.

Senior Marvin Wong and junior Crystal Liu were also responsible for choreographing the piece along with Tau. “Love Me Now” holds a special meaning for the team. “The song is talking about a lover who he’s going to love right now but she’s eventually going to leave him. We made that into a metaphor and said that Legacy is something we have now and how we’re going to treasure the present before it’s going to be gone, before we graduate,” Liu said.

Legacy members followed an intense schedule practice, rehearsing two to three times a week for three hours at the Gibney dance studio, starting two months prior to the competition. As competition day neared, Legacy began to practice daily at Stuyvesant. Sophomore Lucy Bao commented on her personal growth since joining Legacy, especially through balancing rigorous practices and schoolwork. “I think I’ve grown as a person. In terms of academics I’ve started managing my time better because I know practice is time-consuming so I don't really procrastinate as much,” Bao said.

Despite their hard work, Legacy members were disheartened after third and second place were announced because they did not think they had placed first. Seconds later, Stuy Legacy was given the first place title, a shock to the team. “Every single one of us jumped up and we ran on the stage and everyone was just huddling together in a group around the trophy and jumping together and crying,” Bao said.

Liu agreed, recounting similar joyous emotions. “It was an adrenaline rush times 10,000 because we were at a competition with just college students, so they were all older than us,” Liu said.

Legacy’s recent win is meaningful to the team’s members, especially Tau, as this school year will be his last year dancing with Legacy. Tau joined Legacy in his freshman year after joining Stuy Squad, an annual student-run dance showcase. Since then, he attributes Legacy to “defin[ing] myself as a person these past few years,” he said.

Underclassmen like Bao also see the win as an opportunity for growth. “I hope that I get to learn more about dance and life in general, and I’m really excited to see everyone grow together,” Bao said.

Looking forward, Tau’s aspirations for Legacy include expanding its name and for its current members to keep improving as dancers. Likewise, Wong hopes that the members of Legacy continue building their skills and enjoy their time on Legacy. “I want everybody to grow and become better dancers because that’s what Legacy’s all about. It’s about a group of friends dancing, just having fun,” he said.