There are many people who partake in dance at Elizabethtown College. One dancer in particular not only takes the stage but also takes on different challenges that many dancers have not.
Emma Haab is a junior occupational therapy major who is part of the Elizabethtown College Dance Team (ECDT) and Emotion, Etown’s dance club. Before Etown, Haab danced for multiple years in her hometown of Macungie, Pennsylvania.
“Dance has been such an integral part of her life and is something she could not live without,” Haab’s mother Holly Haab said. “Being part of Emotion and ECDT, she’s able to express her love for dance through choreographing and watching her peers perform what she created.”
What separates Haab from others is her dance opportunities, one of which was being invited to compete against the season eight cast of Lifetime’s series “Dance Moms.”
“The producers reached out to my studio for me because I had the highest scoring teen overall solo at the Turn It Up national dance competition,” Haab said.
Haab represented her studio CaRu Entertainment Dance Complex in Pennsington, New Jersey, on the show. Since graduating and coming to Etown in 2021, Haab has continued to dance, even stepping up and choreographing her own dances for ECDT and Emotion.
Habb had the opportunity to compete again by attending Industry Dance Challenge last semester in Lancaster, where she and other members of ECDT performed various dances, three of which Haab created.
“Last semester was my first time competing since high school,” Haab said. “I had entered one group dance, one duet and one solo that I had created for myself. The group dance had won top overall senior group of the day, and the solo had won a top award, industry pro award and star quality special award.” Winning my solo has shown me that I still strive for perfection, and I still have my love for dance whether I am the dancer or choreographer.”
Haab creates pieces for students in Emotion to participate in for the showcase that the club holds at the end of the year. One piece that she is working on this semester is a Micheal Jackson production dance, which has 35 student participants ranging from first-years to fifth years.
What makes the piece different from other dances in the club is that it is the first production piece ever that is eight minutes long.
“I was hesitant when creating this dance as I didn’t think it would be approved since it is eight minutes long, but after working with the Emotion cabinet, I have been able to get myself and other dancers to come together and have fun in a Micheal Jackson production.”
This production can be seen in the Leffler Chapel on Nov. 22 and 23.
Haab continues to “dance and challenge herself” every day and is set to perform with ECDT at the College Classic national competition in Florida this April.
