Whitman Dance Team Debuts

By Alyssa Fairbanks
Whitman College Pioneer

The Whitman Dance Team spiced up the Feb. 6 men’s basketball game against Linfield and the Feb. 7 women’s game against Willamette with a brand new routine performed during half-time. The dance team of 17 girls had been practicing non-stop for the past two weeks in preparation for their half-time performances. They performed a short routine to “The Fame” by Lady GaGa to the cheering Whitman fans.

“The past two weeks we have been practicing five times a week, which is a ton. We have been working really hard to get ready for our performance,” sophomore Rachelle Sloss, the dance team co-captain, said.

This is Sloss’s first semester as a team captain, although she has had been dancing since she was very young. “I’ve done a little ballet, hip-hop and jazz. But, I really got into dance in high school when I was in my high school’s dance team,” she said.

As captain, Sloss choreographed the entire dance. Last semester she helped the senior captains choreograph sections, but this is the first entire routine she has done without assistance.

When asked about the challenges of choreographing a routine for a sporting event versus a stage performance, Sloss said, “The routine has to be bigger and more visual to fill the space. The audience is looking down, the lighting is different and the proximity to the audience is different. All this changes the choreography.”
Senior Lauren Adler, Sloss’s co-captain, agreed.

“[At] the basketball games . . . you are extremely close to the audience and you can see every individual face. It can be awkward and scary, especially if you’ve never performed at one before,” Adler said.
Sophomore dance team member Kristine Unkrich is relatively new to performing at sporting events, but she already has some observations.

“In a theater, it’s more of a show because you can work with lighting and background—it’s more theatrical. At a half time show, it’s more there for a little entertainment,” Unkrich said.

Despite the challenges, Adler believes that performing at basketball games is a good venue for the dance team. The court floor is easy to dance on and there is a pre-existing sound system. Nor do other sports lend themselves as well to half-time dance performances.

“Think of how ridiculous it would be for us to bust out on Ankeny during the halftime of an IM football game,” Adler said.
Apart from these two basketball games, the dance team will be performing at two more games later in the season. Sloss hopes they will also perform at Greek Week as they did last year.

“Performing is what I like most about dancing,” said Unkrich. And Whitman fans seemed to love watching the dance team perform.

Coached By Peers: Kickboxers Start Fresh

By Sami Richards
Pacific Index Story with video

The Kickboxers dance team is starting this basketball season off with a fresh outlook as a completely student-run club.

Last year's coach, Cassie Law, was unable to return due to health issues and the previous coach of almost eight years retired to start a family. As a result, the coaching responsibility has been left in the hands of returners, junior Kim O'Rourke and senior Brooke Arndt.

"I actually think the team is going to be better this year," said O'Rourke. "As individuals, no one is substantially more experienced which has turned out well because as a whole we look really good."

The team's almost three-minute routine, to be performed at the half times of the Saturday, Sept. 22 basketball games, according to O'Rourke, only took about one hour to learn for the unusually young team. Comprised of almost entirely new recruits, with just two returners other than the coaches, the Kickboxers have high hopes for a successful season.

"This is something just for fun," said O'Rourke, "I continuously remind everyone that we are here to make new friends and dance; it is a nice break from classes."

To keep a serious atmosphere though, the team had a full four days of tryouts and Professor Jeannine Chan will be serving as the teams advisor for the season, helping the group to remain recognized as a club on campus.

"It is not as much pressure without an official coach, which makes it a little easier to enjoy ourselves," said O'Rourke.

Lewis & Clark Dance Team Kicks Into Public View

by Sean Wilson-Shafer
The Pioneer Log

In its first year, the Lewis & Clark College Dance Team takes on the mission of making dance prominent on campus. Although relatively unestablished, the Dance Team is working hard to get ready for future sporting events and hopefully a show in the spring.

Many students may be confused as to exactly what the Dance Team is.

“The Dance Team is a performance group,” said Catherine Steitzer (’10), a member of the Dance Team. “It’s a student response to the lack of dance opportunities on campus.”

Steitzer and another member of the Dance Team, Mara Pfneisl (’10), both add that the group brings more of a constant and permanent presence of dance to the campus. Before the Dance Team was formed in the Spring of 2008, Dance Extravaganza was the only other dance related outlet on campus. The members of the Dance Team are hoping to carry on the excitement that comes from Dance Extravaganza and keep it going all year long.

The group practices twice a week to get ready for their performances. They are choreographed by Jamie Cassutt (’07), an alumni of LC. Cassutt choreographs and arranges all of the dances and is responsible for the groups overall style.

Pfneisl explains that the team’s style is very jazzy and they are trying to learn “technical dances.” At each practice, they work on these skills and focus on their semester goal of performing at the home football and basketball games. In order to accomplish this, the group always needs space to practice, which according to Kelsey Domann (’11), is a “big challenge.” Domann is in charge of finding practice space for the team and explains that because the team is new, it is hard to become established on campus.

To date, the Dance Team has performed once. They danced at halftime of the LC Homecoming football game to Guns and Roses’ “Welcome to the Jungle”. Members of the team explain that the conditions weren’t the best for an inaugural performance.

“Despite the fact that our music was inaudible and the only time it rained that day was the three minutes and 50 seconds we performed, we had an excellent time,” said Domann. “It felt as though we were well received by the student body.”

Energized by the completion of their first performance, the dance team is ready to go back out and make themselves prominent on campus. The next performance will take place at the Nov. 1 game, where they will dance to “Thriller” by Michael Jackson

Besides their next performance, the dance team is excited for what’s to come. They plan to have other performances besides the ones at sporting events; ones that focus on the Dance Team itself. Additionally, they hope in the future to compete against other schools. Besides performances, the group is focused on diversifying their style.

As the team begins to gain prominence, Steitzer wants to tear down any misconceptions.

“We are not cheerleaders,” Steitzer said, “The LC Dance Team is a group of dedicated dancers looking to become established and well-recognized on campus.”

“Right now, dance at LC is an afterthought,” said Pfneisl. “We are looking to change that.”