Ithaca College Dance Team Competes in National Championship

The Ithaca College Dance Team usually spends winters giving halftime performances at the men's and women's home basketball games. Recently, though, the 13-member squad appeared before a different audience. On January 7 the dance team competed at the annual College Cheerleading and Dance Team National Championship in Orlando and finished ninth in a field of 21 teams in the open dance category. The top six finishers advanced to the finals, which were videotaped for broadcast later on ESPN. Last year the Ithaca squad finished 28th in a field of some 40 teams.

"It was a little frustrating at first, not to have made the finals," says team member Alecia Donahue '03. "The dance team at Ithaca is considered a club sport and not a varsity team, so we have to do everything ourselves. Most of the teams we competed against had a coach and a trainer, and I think that made a big difference in the way things turned out. Still, we did improve over last year, and I think it says a lot that we got as far as we did without a coach behind us. We're a young team this year - six freshmen, four sophomores, and three juniors. We have a lot of new blood and a renewed enthusiasm, and I think that shows."

To qualify for the national competition, the dance team had to videotape one of its routines and send it to a panel of judges, who selected the teams based on such factors as choreography, difficulty of steps, and crowd appeal. The judges invited the Ithaca squad to the January competition at Disney-MGM Studios in Orlando.

Getting good enough to compete nationally doesn't happen by accident. The dance team spends two hours a day, four days a week, rehearsing their routines, which are developed by team members and performed to taped music. Nonpractice days are spent in the gym staying in shape. There's no letup.

"Every year everybody except the captains has to try out," Donahue says. "It's very rare for someone already on the team not to make it back, but it is competitive, especially for the new positions. This year we had more than 40 dancers trying out for six spots. It's a lot of fun, dancing, but it's also very serious work."

And not all of that work is physical. Although the dance team does have a faculty adviser, being recognized as a club team means a lot of the squad's everyday affairs gets done by the members themselves. A big part of that burden is taken up by the team captains - Amanda Curry '01, Sara Ballute '01, and Erika Gaertner '01 - who organize the tryouts and run the practices. They also have to look for ways to meet expenses. Partial funding by the Student Government Association, private contributions, and fund-raising initiatives go to pay for uniforms and jackets - and to foot the $5,000 needed to send 13 talented dancers to Orlando.

"The dance team is a very disciplined and dedicated group of people," says Michelle Cole, team adviser and adjunct instructor in the General Instructional Program in Physical Education. "Being on that team demands a lot of time and hard work, not just to learn the routines but to physically get themselves in shape. There's an athletic component to what they do."

Members of the dance team come from four schools - business, health sciences and human performance, humanities and sciences, and music. In addition to basketball games, they also perform at halftime at home football contests.

"We're considered a club sport," Donahue says. "But we put as much effort into what we do as any athletic team. Most of us have been dancing all our lives. We're on the dance team because we love it."

Photo: The Ithaca College Dance Team. Back row: Alex Seal, Ragan Renteria, Erika Gaertner (captain), Sara Ballute (captain), Alex Felicetti, Lynsey Heavey, Katie Rotondo, Amber Bloom. Front row: Ayana Shabazz, Alecia Donahue, Sarah Bigham, Erin Dwyer. Not pictured: Amanda Curry (captain). Photo by Leo Donahue.