Dance Season Sneak Peak

By Tamika Robinson
Cardinal Staff

OK, Saint Mary’s! It’s time to conjure up some school spirit and race to the stands. Just as fall sports, like soccer, are coming to an end, winter sports, like basketball, will soon begin. Speaking of basketball, this year’s half-time performances are sure to be crowd pleasers with the Saint Mary’s Dance Team.
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The team is separated into Competition and Performance and is equipped with talented and motivated captains and members. Serving as co-captains of the competition team are Krista Duffey and Sarah Mills. Serving as co-captains of the performance team are Mary Ann Botica and Katie Nowak. The competition team mostly competes against other schools in dance, while the performance team can be seen at the men’s and women’s basketball games. Collectively, the team operates not only to show school spirit, but also to gain the interest of their audience.

The expectations of the team are anything but shy this year. “We did really well last year, and we are hoping to do just as well this year,” said Duffey. Their expectations include strengthening their structure and more conditioning. Through their efforts the team hopes to not only get better, but also to gain recognition from their audience. “We want to have people that don’t necessarily know how to dance want to be a part of our team,” said Botica.

For audience members looking for lackluster performances, you can look elsewhere. The dance team is sure they will make the crowd go wild. The audience can expect a difference from both parts of the team this year. As for the competition team, “We are going for a more fun, traditional style that we haven’t seen from Saint Mary’s Dance Team in a long while,” said Duffey. “We want the wow factor still. We want to be able to do a traditional dance that wows the audience.” The performance team is sure the audience will see “more dances and more motivation so that [they] don’t get bored,” said Botica.

“We really like feedback from the audience. We feed off of their energy,” said Nowak. So remember when they are out on the court dancing or competing, they are there for you. Look for the team at the women’s first basketball game on Nov. 28.