Cool Video (courtesy of Animoto)

Put together using pictures from last season's competition.

Parent Boosters of DVHS Dance Team

Taken 5/2/08 at the 2008 Spring Dance Show at Deer Valley High School.

7-year-old Alexandra Yee dances

NOTE: Just a posting from a proud papa (grin)...

Alexandra is 15-years-old now, but here she is dancing a jazz solo (Come On Over) as a 7-year-old...pretty awesome ;-)

Jabba WockeeZ: Audition for "America's Best Dance Crew"

If you've been watching "America's Best Dance Crew," then you'd definitely know about Jabba WockeeZ. They are awesome! I hope they win the whole thing, but in the meantime, enjoy this audition dance found on YouTube.

PICTURES: Nationals Competion courtesy of Tes Calara

Here are a couple pictures courtesy of Tes Calara from this past week's Nationals Competition. Thanks, Tes.

NCS girls Div. I: Another section title for Berkeley

By Ricardo Sanchez Jr.
STAFF WRITER

OAKLAND -- With one quarter of basketball on Saturday, the Berkeley High School girls basketball team finally answered all the questions it faced at the start of the season.

How would the team respond in the post-Gene Nakamura era? Could the Yellow Jackets continue the rich tradition established by the legendary coach?

"We just wanted to get the win," Berkeley guard Jazmine Perkins said. "That wasn't on our mind. Berkeley is a big name across the chest but there's no pressure."

Junior forward Airika Warren put to rest the issue with her 21 point-performance and the Yellow Jackets beat Deer Valley 62-45 in the North Coast Section Division I championship game at Oracle Arena, their 18th NCS title in school history and the first for new coach Cheryl Draper.

Warren scored 12 of her 21 points in a fourth quarter in which Berkeley outscored the Wolverines 27-9. The Yellow Jackets entered the final period trailing 36-35 but used a 15-6 run that put Berkeley (26-3) up for good.

"I noticed that my team needed a pick-up," Warren said. "So I picked up the tempo and we got in our rhythm."

Deer Valley (25-4) showed from the start that it wouldn't be pushed around. Warren committed an intentional foul on Wolverine forward Deserie Azlin, throwing her to the floor when both got tangled up fighting for a rebound. The play seemed to light a fire under Azlin, who scored nine-straight points after the foul in the final 3:32 of the first half.

Azlin along with Emily Allard, who scored 12 of Deer Valley's first 13 points, led the Wolverines to a 26-17 halftime lead. But it wouldn't hold up.

"We gave them the game," said Allard, who had a game-high 26 points. "It seemed like they wanted it more, even though I know that wasn't the case."

Turnovers and missed opportunities hurt the Wolverines, who were vying for their second NCS title. Still, Deer Valley coach Lindsay Wisely was impressed by her team's effort.

"We've been faced with a lot of adversity (this season)," Wisely said. "And our team has shown heart and courage."

The second half was a tough one for No. 1-seeded Deer Valley, which couldn't get anything going offensively. Meanwhile, second-seeded Berkeley responded with an 11-4 run to start the third quarter to get within 30-28 and back into the game.

"Our coaches get on us pretty hard at halftime," Perkins said. "We've never seen our coaches that mad before. It woke us up."

YouTube: DVHS Dance Team 2008 Season

This is a customized YouTube video player that contains ALL the videoclips of the DVHS Dance Team's season-to-date. Thanks to Marvin Solorzano for all the videos...very well-done, I might add. This video player also includes some videoclips I took on my little clunker of a camcorder...I kept them just because they provide different views of the dances. Enjoy!