This coming February, the Occidental Dance Team (ODT) will be competing at the United Spirit Association’s national championships for the first time in 11 years, according to co-captain Kenna Mueller (junior).
Mueller said the team spends hours in the dance studio preparing for halftime shows, quad performances, campus events and outside competitions.
“We’ve never been to such a big competition before, so getting the team prepared for that is a lot of work,” Mueller said. “Me and Julie [Wang] have been working on going to this competition since last May. Every single week we have meetings to make sure we’re on top of everything and getting where we need to go.”
Mueller said ODT brought in a guest choreographer to teach them the routine they will be performing at the competition.
“Sometimes we self-choreograph, other times we have ex-dance team members come in,” Mueller said. “For our competition we reached out and got a professional choreographer. This is her full-time job.”
Kaylee Nguyen (sophomore) said the team recently practiced for the competition for 10 hours total one weekend: six hours on Saturday and four more hours the next day.
“Dance has always been a great way to express myself and getting to do it with a team is a different experience,” Nguyen said. “Now we’re all struggling together towards this common goal of competing, which has been so special to me.”
Nguyen said she has been a competitive dancer since she was 10 years old, and that when applying for college, she prioritized campuses with a dance team.
“I knew that I wanted to have a close-knit community on campus and I thought dance was a great way to do that,” Nguyen said. “I also wanted to nurture my competitive side and work towards a goal at all times, which is why I joined the dance team.”
Violet Tong (first year) said while the tryouts were intimidating at first, the overall atmosphere was friendly and welcoming.
“We’re already like a family,” Tong said. “It’s been a great way to meet new people on campus since I don’t know anyone yet.”
According to Mueller, ODT does not have a coach, so the captains are in charge of running the team and dealing with all administrative tasks.
“We’re fully self-run, we’re doing it all ourselves,” Mueller said. “It takes a lot of discipline as a captain to make sure everything happens, because if something doesn’t happen, it’s going to fall back on me.”
ODT was the first student organization on campus to have a fundraiser drink at the Green Bean this semester, a peach limeade. Audrey Stewart (sophomore) said the team wanted their drink to grab people’s attention.
“We wanted something fruity, bright and fun because we thought it was a good time of year for that,” Stewart said. “We went to taste test it and it was the greatest thing I’ve ever tasted.”
Mueller said most of ODT’s funding comes from the Associated Students of Occidental College (ASOC) and Day for Oxy. She said the team is recognized as a club sport, so they are granted $5,000 each year from ASOC.
“Dance is a really expensive sport; our choreography was $2,000 [and] our uniforms were $3,000,” Mueller said. “When things are so expensive, that $5,000 gets eaten up really quick. We try to utilize the resources Oxy gives us.”
Mueller said ODT has become close with each other since the semester began.
“There’s never been a time I don’t want to go, it’s something I look forward to,” Mueller said. “I give props to everyone on the team for that because it takes work from every person to [create] such an amazing environment.”
Nguyen said each person on the team is unique and that she loves to spend time with her teammates.
“Coming to dance and connecting with each other; struggling together; that’s been my favorite thing,” Nguyen said. “They’re people that I can go to for advice or a good laugh.”
Contact Izzy Shotwell at shotwell@oxy.edu
