Story by Ellie Song
Staff Writer
Illustration by Lanah Kim
Co-design Editor
South Pasadena High School’s annual Color Day occurred on Oct. 2, 2026. Students and staff carried on the tradition of dressing in all orange, representing Tiger pride.
The advanced dance team has been preparing for Color Day for about a month and a half, since the beginning of the 2026-2027 school year. Graduating from SPHS in 2025, Quin Sokolowski now works as an after-school jazz instructor and choreographer. He has planned the last two Color Day performances for 2025 and 2026, as well as choreographed assembly dance performances since 2024.
“I choreographed and directed this year’s Color Day dance,” said Sokolowski, “which includes the entirety of the SPHS advanced dance team. Each Color Day dance reinvents itself with an entirely new theme to surprise the audience. This year we decided to go for an F1 racing theme.”
This year, advanced dance has performed a mashup of Blinding Lights by The Weeknd, Sports Car by Tate McRae, and JOYRIDE. by Kesha.
To prepare for this year’s assembly, there was a lot of necessary behind-the-scenes work. Dance Director Courtney Cheyne and Sokolowski collaborated on ideas, funding, concepts, music, and taking into account the dancers and rehearsal time they could have. Sokolowski then worked late nights, creating choreography, along with formations to teach his dancers the following few days.
“We had many in-class rehearsals, from learning the first steps to rehearsing in full costume in the gym. Not only is it a big job for me and Courtney Cheyne as creative directors, but for the dancers themselves, who are juggling school, home life, and being performers.”
This year, advanced dance rehearsals were during 5th period in the dance room, but once Color Day neared, they practiced in the gym to test out the space for their assembly performance.
“I’d say preparing for Color Day was really fun, but it was definitely a lot of work,” sophomore Grace Chen said. “Our choreographer pushes us a lot because he knows what we are capable of, and it was also really fun being able to work hard and dance together with my dance friends.”
Weeks of practicing allowed the dancers to perfect the choreography, and they executed every move during rehearsals to make sure their performance was flawless for the big day.
Sokolowski explained how being a choreographer is definitely a creative job, and in a way, can face many obstacles when certain ideas don’t come to life exactly how he imagined them.
“So it is my job not only to teach, but find ways to let my vision and storytelling translate into a way that all audience members and dancers can enjoy,” stated Sokolowski.
The Color Day tradition has been part of SPHS history for so long, and Sokolowski explains how coming back from Covid-19 as a freshman, Color Day was something unexpected.
“[Color Day] is such a spirited school holiday I never had experienced [as a freshman]. That year, Dance performed on the field due to Covid-19 restrictions and danced to Ice Cream by Blackpink and Selena Gomez. While I was a beginner dancer at the time, watching the advanced dancers from an audience perspective was definitely a core memory and inspired me to get to where I am today. Color Day has a lot of special moments, but SPHS advanced dance never ceases to put on a great first performance of the year.”
The Color Day assembly is always a star-stricking performance which leaves the crowd in awe as the performers dance to the rhythm of the songs, moving the audience’s attention to the middle of the gym.
“While I have loved all the color day performances over the past years, with full confidence I can say that this year’s color day performance will certainly be one to remember, with an exciting and mature theme that the dancers are killing,” Sokolowski said.