Cheer, Caper, and Cringe: The History of the Staff DTR Dance

By: Isla Salgado, Carmela Desrosier and Anthony Searle

The Hayward High staff dance is a silly and enticing watch for students. While the performance may hold a burning memory for students, it often misses out on making it into the yearbook and its history remains enigmatic…Until now!

Fortunately, Spanish teacher, Ms. Gonsalves was happy to address previous staff performances and the overall history of the dance. “I think we have been doing it for about 10 (years) maybe a little bit more…” she says.

As the performance does not have a spot in any yearbook we could find, Gonsalves provided some details about the creation of the performance. According to Gonsalves, a former Spanish teacher named Jennifer Jones Martinez became the first lead of the staff dance and chose a popular song to choreograph zumba-inspired moves in a teacher’s class.

Regardless of what the hundreds of masses of students think about the staff dance, teachers will continue to “blow minds” as stated by former Hayward High vice president, Alvaro Franco in a 2014 email in preparation for the staff dance.

“I like making a fool out of myself in front of the whole school,” states Teacher Gin, a fairly new member of the staff performance, having 3 years of experience. After the Covid-19 pandemic, the particular performance had taken a decline in participation but it continues to be active in DTR. Now, the staff dance has a new head–science teacher Mr. Yang.

In 2021, Mr. Yang joined the staff dance as a regular performer before becoming choreographer for the dances in 2022. Mr. Yang has been performing in the DTR Staff Dances for four years, having missed a year due to being out of town, but for 5 years straight, Mr. Yang has been the brains behind the dance moves and choreography of the Staff Dances. Mr Yang says that his favorite part of performing these dances during DTR are “Hanging out with the other teachers and having fun. I think it’s really nice to do something that’s not teaching with adults that you work with.”

He also says that he enjoys how hype and excited the students get when the teachers perform every year, “It feels really great to be so loved and amazed by the students, which is why I still do it.”

As DTR is approaching, students were asked what they hope staff members would perform in their next dance, to which the students replied that K-pop would do. While the soundtrack remains unknown, the years of effort and determination from the teachers and staff to give a wacky show remains apparent.