The Rowan University Dance Team is a hardworking group of students who dedicate themselves to supporting their school. The team is led by their three captains, Makenna Boesenhofer, Jacqueline Casazza, and Bryce O’Donnell. The Rowan Dance Team dances for the Rowan football team, the basketball team, as well as participating in a competitive season that begins in the winter.
During the football season, they perform smaller routines on the sidelines and cheer on the team, and then perform a halftime routine. The same is done during the basketball season. The competition season looks a little different than that; there is much more time dedicated to perfecting their routines, and all of the dancers on the team put their best foot forward.
“I get so excited to come to practice and stop thinking about other things. It’s such a nice environment,” said Casazza.
During the competition season, the team practices for multiple hours every day to perfect their routine. They fly out choreographers who come and teach all of the dances that incorporate different kinds of styles, such as hip-hop and jazz. A typical practice night for the team is beginning practice at 9:45 p.m. ending around midnight, they spend the night practicing routines repeatedly, switching people in and out so people get equal time observing the dance as well as performing it.
The team is also on campus immediately after the holidays, during winter break, to continue their rigorous dance schedule. They compete in a mini competition at St. Joe’s to get a small idea of what the competition at nationals will look like and to perform their routine in front of judges before nationals come around.
“We’ll come back in January and start two practices a day, morning practice and night practice … We come back with the judges’ critiques and start up two practices a day again,” said Boesenhofer when asked about what the schedule looks like over winter break.
Once nationals come around, the dancers prep for the largest competition of the season. They compete in the Division III section of the competition. Nationals is held in Orlando, Florida, with three days of competitive dancing. The team performs the dances they have been working so hard to perfect, and hopes that they can continue on to the next day. Once nationals are over, the team gets two days in Disney World to have fun with their teammates and celebrate all the hard work they have put in that season.
The Rowan dance team is not just a team — they are a family. With so much of their time being spent together, they form such a strong and unique bond that lasts through life, even post-college. They are all there to work hard and practice, and are there for one another when it’s needed. When the team is here over winter break, they are really the only students on campus, so that is how they become so close.
“We will do anything for each other. I think we all get along really well, and we are such a tight-knit group.” O’Donnell said.
Like any other sports team, the dance team knows where its priorities lie, within competition season. But to have such a tight-knit group that understands what it’s like to be a student athlete and dedicate so much of your time to a sport that is so demanding is a special kind of bond.
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