On February 21st, 2018, the annual Webb Idol competition took place in Hooper Student Center instead of the Quad due to the constant rain. Alamo dorm took back-to-back victories with their creative dance moves and dominant performance, building off of their win in 2017. Webb Idol is a traditional dance competition at Webb where WSC dorms compete against each other with the help of assigned VWS choreographers.

WSC dorms began this year’s practices for the Webb Idol competition on February 12th. Choreographers brought their unique ideas and dance moves to the WSC dorms and helped the boarders in their preparation for the competition. Webb Idol aims to improve the relationship between dorm residents through the process of practicing and competing.

Yiyi Ouyang (‘21), a new sophomore at Webb and a new resident of Alamo, said “[Webb Idol is a] solid bonding experience for the whole dorm… Practicing every week made us all strive all for the same goal.”

Other than the practices every night, something else also inspired Yiyi to “work hard and really learn the dance.” He said, “Before the dance I was talking to a senior, and he told me how much it meant to the senior class, so through our conversation it really made us realize how important it is to work hard and get the win.”

When talking about Alamo’s win, Yiyi said, “It made us underclassmen feel proud that we were able to present the seniors with a parting gift and be part of this victory.”

Another Alamo resident, Jonathan Zhang (‘21), said, “I am happy that our hard work paid off, and I am happy to win Webb Idol with Alamo because I love free passes for room checks.”

Ryan Bridges (‘20) was the only day student who participated Webb Idol with Alamo dorm because he previously learned the dance moves from the choreographers “just for fun,” and he felt like he could use those dance moves and help Alamo to achieve the title. Ryan said, “It was very exciting to get to be a part of the Webb Idol experience, especially as the only day student. Being able to dance alongside borders helped me to get to know some people that I don’t usually see around campus.”

Ryan also said, “I highly encourage more day students participate in activities like Webb Idol; it was a great opportunity to connect with the community. On top of that, it was really fun hanging around with other dancers and choreographers.”  

Jameson resident Roger Yen (‘21) took some time after Webb Idol to reflect and think about how to improve next year for himself and the Jameson dorm. Roger said, “Webb Idol is a fun event and it’s great chance to relax and it’s a great bonding opportunity for the dorms. I wasn’t too happy with our effort and result this year, I think mainly because we had lots of people who can’t be at the practices because of sports and other things. So we had to push most of our practices into the last week and we rushed a bit while we were learning the dance moves.”

At the end, Roger still believes that he will have more fun with Jameson next year and he is confident they will win Webb Idol.

WSC boarders put on a show for the whole school during long lunch and made both students and faculty at Webb look forward to Webb Idol in 2020. Which WSC dorm can challenge Alamo’s dominant position? Will Jameson have big comeback just like Roger expected? Or will the freshman dorms come up strong and take the win? All the hard work, dedication, and cooperation between borers will be shown again at Webb Idol 2020!