Dancing with different goals
Being a member of the Infusion Dance team lets Pinckney sophomore Mary Teachout persue her hobby of dancing while still keeping school a top priority.
“You still want to do it, and you don’t want to stop doing it because you’re too busy or anything,” Teachout said.
Any kind of dance, whether it is in the form of studio, pom, cheerleading or high school dance teams, has been a part of some Central Michigan University students’ childhoods, including Teachout. For them, the dancing doesn’t have to stop in college. CMU has a variety of different dance teams, all with unique styles and goals, allowing students to pursue dancing as a hobby or as a serious interest.
Infusion Dance Team
With two practices a week and occasional performances, Infusion is a close-knit dance team. There is less emphasis on competition and more on building relationships with teammates, strengthened by a shared love of dance.
“We really want to just help each other and just become better dancers and better people in general,” Teachout said. “It’s just like we try to build each other up.”
With mainly a jazz and lyrical dance style, Infusion looks for heart and a basic knowledge of dance as qualities during tryouts. Most members have experience in studio dance classes, pom or high school dance teams. Any level of experience is considered for the team.
CMU Dance Team
Drawn into the art by watching the CMU Dance Team perform at football and basketball games, Troy sophomore Courtney Linton joined them this year.
“Definitely being on the field and just seeing all of the students in front of you, just so excited to be there,” Linton said.
With all members on the team having pretty serious dance backgrounds, the CMU Dance Team goes to Nationals every year in addition to performing on the sidelines at every basketball and football game at CMU.
“It’s just something I like doing for fun,” she said. “It’s just always been a part of my life, so I feel like it would have been weird for me to stop dancing.”
In the midst of the early morning practices, Linton said this high-commitment dance team is team-oriented, and the members often hang out and are friends outside of it.
In tryouts, the CMU Dance Team looks for team spirit in addition to good dance technique. This dance team is a little more serious, partly because they are associated with the CMU Athletic Department, Linton said. They also sell programs during the football games.
CMU Club Hip Hop
For South Lyon senior Paige Burnia, president of CMU Club Hip Hop, this will be her fourth year dancing on the team.
“I just love going to practice and knowing there’s no homework for these two hours,” Burnia said. “It is just me learning choreography and dancing, and I don’t have to worry about anything else.”
Burnia came to college and wanted to keep dancing but wanted to be in the same sort of team environment of her high school dance team. Even though she joined the team with a foundation of dance, Burnia said some members have no past experience.
Regardless of skill, members are welcomed on to the team for the most part and develop their skills during team practices.
The team holds tryouts once every year but is having additional tryouts this spring. CMU Club Hip-Hop has many performances and competitions planned for this year.
“We’re a fun-based group” Burnia said. “We hang out, we do our competitions, and we do our choreography of course, and it’s serious. But we don’t try to put too much emphasis on the seriousness.”
The dance style of the team is mainly hip-hop, but there are two different groups within the team, each with their own captain. One is more a street-style of hip-hop and the other one is more structured and dance company kind of a style. Narrowing the types of dance make it possible for more members to participate on a team where they don’t have to learn multiple styles.
At tryouts, potential members of CMU Club Hip-Hop are analyzed based on their dance style to see where they would best fit in on the team.
Rampage Dance Team
Dearborn Junior Jeree Spicer is the co-founder and treasurer of Rampage Dance Team.
Rampage embraces all dance styles, including hip-hop, ballet, lyrical and jazz.
“We’re versatile with
everything,” Spicer said.
On top of school, it is required that members commit six hours of practice throughout the week.
Typically, Rampage Dance holds tryouts at the beginning of every semester based on the size of the existing team. The team has 20 members and won’t be holding tryouts in the spring.
At tryouts, they look for the people with potential and effort.
“We know who’s there to be serious and who’s not,” Spicer said. “We’re just like a sports team where we want to make sure they’re trying.”
With performances and competitions planned for this year, Spicer said the dance team has come a long way and hopes to keep getting more competitive.
“Right now we’re just a team trying to get our name out there. We’re trying to leave a legacy here at Central Michigan,” Spicer said.
