They fill the gym floors with rhythm and energy. The crowd cheers under the buzz of the bass. They relish in the gratification of performing what they have been preparing for months.

In Los Altos High School’s Hip Hop Dance Club, dance is all about flexibility. Whether it’s literally — the skill of its dancers — or in principle — the uniqueness of the hip hop itself — the club embraces the freedom of the dance style, channeling it into its rally performances.

“Sometimes hip hop is about what it’s not,” Adviser April Oliver said. “It’s not ballet-based, it’s not about straight legs and pointed feet.”

Open to anyone interested in dance, the club is a community of unique culture and artistry.

“Hip hop is a culmination of different parts of the world and different groups,” co-President senior Ananya Vaswani said. “There are so many subgenres from groups of people. We have a Bay Area style of hip hop, which we incorporate into our club.”

The characteristics of hip hop are essential to the co-presidents’ lives — it’s expressive, creative and characterized by versatility and diversity. It has also become an outlet for them to pursue the creativity of music and movement, according to co-President senior Kareena Kirpalani.

“To have that kind of artistic and physical release, to move to music and respond emotionally to their own emotional landscape, is wonderful,” Oliver said.

The three co-presidents created the Hip Hop Dance Club their sophomore year to bring that type of dance-focused space on campus. LAHS’s dance team disbanded during the officers’ freshman year, and there were no other dance-focused programs on campus before the creation of their club. The only other alternative, the yearlong Dance I and Dance II classes, was not an option for some.

“The year long dance class is a big commitment if you want to do it throughout your four years,” Ananya said.

“We wanted the club to be more inclusive and show our school that everyone can work together to do something they want to do,” co-President senior Kianna Wong said. “For people who are newer to dance, it’s an opportunity to perform.”

The club’s main focus is rally performances. Preparation for these rallies begins months in advance — for the upcoming homecoming rally, the co-presidents met to brainstorm choreography and music mixes during summer before school even started. Each of the three co-presidents then choreographs a song before editing the music into one cohesive piece. Rehearsals are held in the dance room during lunch for a few hours each week to teach and practice the performance, and they spend a weekend together cleaning it up to finalize the performance.

Despite the learning curve for members new to dance, the officers have worked to create choreography that works for everyone without sacrificing sophistication.

“We don’t dumb down the choreography just so it’s easy for everyone,” Ananya said. “We want to challenge people and believe that they can go up to that higher level.”

Both the co-presidents of the club and Oliver recognized that with the rise of popularity of dance trends, hip hop has only grown more relevant — which the club’s performances reflect.

For many students, performing in rallies represents a visible presence of dance on campus.

“I only pay attention [to the rally] when the club performs the dances,” junior Sophie Liu said. “To me, it’s definitely the highlight.”

The club performs next at the Homecoming Rally Monday, Sep.29.