On Sept. 16, DGS presented a homecoming assembly with several different competitions and acts, including a hip hop dance group called Future Legacies. This experienced dance group, a product of DLD Dance Center in Downers Grove, has achieved many accomplishments in this past year, which includes placing fifth in the junior division at the World of Dance Finals in Los Angeles and first place in the hip hop category at the Nexstar and Starbound Competitions using the same dance that they performed in front of the large crowd at the assembly.

Future Legacies is a team with dancers from a couple different schools in the area with five being from DGS, including juniors Lucas Ciocan, Jacob Valadez and Grace Rerucha, sophomore Emily Rerucha and senior Donovin Fields. The group performed a hip hop style dance to a mashup of several different rap and pop songs. As the team danced across the turf during the assembly, the crowd cheered loudly.

“The energy, I felt, was very positive. During all the stuff we were doing, I heard screams from over here and screams from over there,” Fields said.

Ciocan originally approached the group and suggested the idea of performing at the assembly, so they mutually decided to audition about a month beforehand. After practicing for several weeks both in and out of their dance studio, the team felt prepared to show off their skills in front of students and staff members.

“I wasn’t really [nervous]. When they called out our names, I was just like, ‘It’s time,’” Fields said.

Although the team has been working to perfect this dance for about a year, they had some concerns about performing at the assembly, including dancing on turf for the first time and remembering certain formations and cues. Fields shrugged as he explained a couple mistakes the team made, but recognized that the errors didn’t have a big effect on the overall quality of the dance.

“At the end of the dance, I didn’t land my backflip, but I just brushed it off with a flex. One of us forgot that we had new formations, but he just ran back to his spot, so that worked out well,” Fields said.

The coach of the Future Legacies team, Anthony Wilder, has been coaching dance for 12 years and specifically this team for 7 years. He was very enthusiastic about the team being able to show off their skills at the assembly, especially after all the hard work they have put into perfecting the dance.

“I am proud of this team and the work that they put in each and every day to perfect their craft and hone their skills. The drive that they have to push themselves and to always set higher goals is very inspiring,” Wilder said.

The Future Legacies team continues to improve their individual and group skills, and they plan on competing with this dance one last time at the next World of Dance competition on Nov. 13.