Author: Danielle Sherman
Though she has graduated, last year’s dance captain Allison Truscheit ’08 has not left the dance team. Truscheit is staying with the competitive team as coach, which is a change from last year when the team did not have an official coach and Truscheit had both captain and coaching duties.
Having someone to coach and take care of administrative tasks allows the team members to focus on dancing.
The team is becoming increasingly competitive, and out of about 30 prospective dancers at auditions, only five made the cut. At auditions, dancers warmed up, showed off their jazz technique, and learned and performed a short routine.
According to Truscheit, in order to make the team dancers must have outstanding flexibility, killer leaps, fouettes, at least a double pirouette, and a fantastic performance quality.
“The auditions were really nerve-racking at first, I did not know what to expect,” said new member Chelsea Duncan (first-year), who has a dance background mainly in ballet. “When I made the team I was ecstatic!”
Captain Brittney Banbury (senior) is impressed with this year’s team. “We have a remarkable skill level and a shared passion for dance which makes the team dynamic really positive and professional,” Banbury said.
The dancers have a variety of goals this season, including returning to the United Dancer’s Association (UDA) College Dance Team National Championship in Orlando, Florida. Last year, during their first competitive season, the team made it to the semi-finals, but this year they are shooting for a spot in the final competition.
“The team wasn’t really prepared for a national competition…but now that we have experience at a national competition we have set our goals much higher,” Jennifer Goth (junior) said, who has been on the team since she was a first-year.
The team had to raise about $10,000 in less than a month and a half last year and are always looking for donations to help pay for plane tickets and entrance fees into competitions. “We are literally starving for money,” Truscheit said.
Besides excelling in competition, the team would like to be recognized on campus for their skill. “We are trying to be a technique-oriented team that wants more recognition on campus for being artistic and fun as well as technically great,” said Goth.
According to Banbury, “Most people don’t understand the demands that dance places on the body and how it ought to be respected as not only an art form but also a sport.”
The Oxy dancers will compete twice this season, first at a Southern California Championship in Irvine, CA on November 16 and then at the UDA National Championship in Orlando in January.
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