BY RACHEL GALATIS
After two years of waiting due to COVID-19 circumstances, the Stonehill College Dance Team is set to compete in the College Classic National Invitational in April.
“I am most excited to compete on the Nationals stage for the first time,” junior Juliana Rizza said. “I am just excited to finally be able to have the full Nationals experience with my team.”
The competition will take place in Orange County, Orlando, Fla., at the Orange County Convention Center on April 9 and 10. Teams from around the country are invited to participate. Former competitors include Southeast Missouri State University and Western Kentucky University.
Rizza said that normally, teams who attend the event only compete in one group dance routine. However, Stonehill has been invited to compete in three: “jazz,” “pom,” and “hip-hop.”
The team has spent months preparing by holding practices three times a week for two-to-three hours at a time, and attending “choreography weekends,” where choreographers are flown in to help with creating routines.
Mia Shinney, a freshman, said that a typical practice consists of stretching, warm-up exercises, workouts, going over old routines and learning new ones.
“Because spring semester is mainly focused on preparing for nationals in April, we've been rotating through our three competition dances (pom, jazz, and hip hop) weekly, and dedicate each practice to cleaning a certain section of whatever piece we're working on,” she said.
To increase the school spirit on campus, the team dances at home games for the football team in the fall, and both men’s and women’s basketball teams in the winter. Their performance at “Skyhawk Madness,” is a fan-favorite, according to students.
Rizza said that she credits their strong team dynamic to hard work at practices, team dinners, and learning to trust one another.
“You need to be able to trust someone who will catch you if you fall; someone who will hold you accountable when you make a mistake,” she said. “We hold each other to a high standard and only want to push each other to be better as dancers.”
Nationals isn’t the only competition the dance team will compete in this season. The team will be traveling to Westfield State University to dance in the New England Dance Challenge on February 27.
There are two captains who lead the team, Lauren Goode, a senior, and Morgan Morris, a junior.
Morris said that this event will be used as “prep” for nationals since they will be competing against other New England schools who may also be attending the competition in Florida.
“Nationals is the wrap up of our season. After nationals we have a break before we begin the team cycle over again which begins with team auditions in late May/early June,” she said.
Morris said that the routines choreographed during the season vary depending on the event and the audience.
“Our routines that we perform at game days and events around the school are geared towards entertaining families and students; they are fun and engaging,” she said. “At nationals our routines are more competitive and dynamic.”
When dancing at games, they have specific routines prepared for time-outs, half-time, and in between calls. Some of these routines are choreographed by members of the team themselves.
Shinney said that she credits the older members of the team for being, “so welcoming and helpful” to her and the other underclassmen and said that her time with the dance team is her “favorite part about Stonehill,” since it is where she met some of her “closest friends,” on campus.
“I look forward to going to dance every practice, it's the best part of my week,” she said, “I love being a part of SCDT and couldn't imagine my college experience without it.”
The Dance Team gets together for a group photo after competing at West eld State University on Sunday. Photo Courtesy of Kaili Guyer
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