Through the roar of the crowd and feeling of a thousand gazes fixed upon her, she felt the doubt creep in.

Despite three years of experience in dance, junior Jenna Huang deals with this feeling every time she performs in front of the school during a pep rally or in front of her class at the Dancing For a Cause (DFC) headquarters.

“I still get scared,” Huang said. “When I know someone’s watching me, I still have that doubt that I’m not doing good enough or I might mess up. I want to improve and be more confident in that type of situation.”

Huang joined DFC her freshman year after watching a performance at a pep rally. She met DFC members through her dance class, and was further convinced to join the club. Huang currently serves as the vice president of the organization.

“First off, I did [dance] for fun because I had a pretty boring life and I’d just be at home so I started learning dances online,” Huang said. “When I joined DFC, it became kind of a home or a family and it was [a] stress reliever. When I dance, I can spill out all my emotions. I can dance out all my pain. [Dance] helped me become more outgoing, because before I was extremely shy. It kind of shaped me.”

Huang is part of a dance team called “The Alliance” which branches off the DFC headquarters. The team focuses on performing emotional pieces in contrast to the upbeat ones at the pep rallies.

“When we learn dances at HQ, we do groups at the end and the rest of the people are watching you [dance] and you always want to make that good impression,” Huang said. “Dance is something [where] you’re expressing yourself to people; you’re showing who you are by dancing. You have to be yourself. Even if you mess up, you still look good doing it.”

According to Huang, Los Angeles is the birthplace for dance, which is why her dream school is UCLA. She hopes to become a choreographer, and is considering attending the University of Texas at Dallas, partly because it also has a DFC.

“[Becoming a choreographer is] kind of a dream, and I have to think of reality,” Huang said. “[It] is really hard because I don’t know anything else that I would be interested in. Dance is my passion. I know I will never let go of [it.]”