In Memoriam: Caroline Wiren

College Dance Team Central was sad to learn of the passing of Caroline Wiren, director of the USF Sun Dolls, this week. Miss Wiren and the Sun Dolls have been much-appreciated contributors to the College Dance Team Central blog, and our thoughts and prayers are with the Wiren family. Below is a message from SunDolls.org.

Dear Fans, Friends and Family:

I am shocked and deeply saddened by the news of the passing away of our beloved SunDolls Coach, Caroline Wiren. She was the inspiration, leader and author of most of the content of this website. As the webmaster, I came to rely completely on her, in building and maintaining this website meant to celebrate our wonderful Sun Dolls Dance Team at the University of South Florida. Along with the entire USF community, I will miss her greatly and wish to convey my most heartfelt sorrow and condolences to her husband, family and friends.

Please visit the official USF Athletic's site at: GoUSFBulls.com for further information and news.

I am temporarily taking down the Sundolls.Org site, until further notice. I promise to get it going very soon. Thanks for your continued love and support.

Respectfully,

Bill (May 17, 2007)

Below are links to articles about Caroline Wiren and the Tampa Tribune Guestbook.

The Tampa Tribune

The St. Petersburg Times

The Tampa Tribune Guestbook for Caroline Wiren

SHSU Dance Team Member Anxious To Start With Texans

Katie Breaux
The Huntsville Item

Betsy Young will soon be living her dream.

The 22-year-old public relations major at Sam Houston State University was recently selected as a member of the 2007 Houston Texans cheerleaders squad.

Throughout her first year as a cheerleader, Young said that in addition to performing at Texans games, she will also make at least 30 appearances and practice three to four times a week.

As she is accustomed to leading crowded stadiums full of Bearkat fans, Young expresses no apprehensions or fears about starting her career as a Texans cheerleader.

“I can’t wait to walk out of that tunnel to see over 70,000 fans in the Houston stadium,” Young said.

Young’s 19 years of dance training and her experience with the SHSU Orange Pride dance team led her into the auditions and will be an asset, she said.

Although a demanding schedule and a trying year lie ahead of her, Young said she will be doing what she loves.

“There’s nothing better than performing in front of a crowded stadium of excited fans,” she said.

Although Young is currently the only Sam Houston State student on the squad, she is accompanied by Elizabeth Bond and Kristen Cook, who are both graduates of SHSU.

The auditions took place in Houston over a period of five days, beginning April 21.

On the first day of tryouts, more than 200 judges, including Andre Johnson and Dunta Robinson of the Texans football team, chose only 55 women out of more than 700 who attended, to continue to the final round. From those 55 finalists, a smaller panel of judges comprised of professionals directly involved with the cheer squad chose 34 women as members of the team.

The last cheerleader, who was selected by fans through an online poll, was announced on Friday.

Young is one of the countless students pursuing her dreams with the confidence and ability gained during her experience at Sam Houston State University.

“I just can’t wait to embark on this next phase of my life and my career, especially at such a high caliber level” Young said. “I’m honored to represent Texans football.”

UCSD Dance Team Finishes Second Nationally

By Nicky Buchanan
UCSD Guardian

April 26, 2007 — Though the UCSD dance team is mainly seen on campus performing at events like Sun God or Spirit Night and halftime performances at Triton athletics events, it is also a highly competitive squad that has remained ranked in the nation's top 10 Division II dance teams since it started competing in 1998.

This year the Tritons made UCSD history as second-place trophy winners at the National Dance Alliance Nationals April 4 to April 7 in Daytona Beach, Fla. They finished just 0.04 points behind winner Hawaii Pacific University, which also earned first place last year, and 0.02 points ahead of McLennon Community College.

"Getting second place was the best feeling ever," senior co-captain Alison Chaikittirattana said. "We went in as the underdogs not expecting much, so it was so nice to realize that all of our hard work finally paid off and we were being recognized for it too."

The Triton squad began preparing their NDA routine during the summer, when they decided on their SOS-Castaway theme. The theme involved a mixture of three songs, including a remix of "SOS" by the Police, "SOS" by Rhianna and "Message in a Bottle" by Bonnie Tyler.

"Competing against some of the best dance teams in the nation means that everyone is probably at the same level in technique and skills," Chaikittirattana said. "So in order to stand out from the other talented teams, choosing a creative theme that will catch the judges' attention is crucial."

The NDA requires routines to be two and a half minutes in length with at least 30 seconds in the three styles of jazz, hip hop and pom. Since this was the team's first year without a coach and (it is run solely by three co-captains) the choreography of the piece was entirely a group effort. There were some tensions in the beginning of the season in terms of adjusting to the authority of their peers, but the team's thirst for pulling together a great routine for nationals pushed many of these doubts aside.

"Our group of 16 girls demonstrates what self-sufficient means," sophomore Juhi Dudani said. "We take care of everything from finances to costumes, music, workouts, choreography and organizing our performances. We work well together and respect each other and it shows when we perform."

The first opportunity to showcase their routine, aside from school basketball games, was at the USA Nationals on Feb. 11 and 12 in Las Vegas. The team did not make it to the final round, but the girls used the critiques from the judges to take their piece to the next level for Florida.

"We didn't do too well at USA Nationals, but we did get good feedback," freshman Bonnie Chan said. "We added more difficulty, variety and level changes and it really pushed us to work harder."

The team practiced three days a week for two hours each, and held extra practices in the weeks before competition.

"We drilled certain parts over and over again until [we achieved] perfection," Chan said. "It was hard work."

The NDA judging system is rigorous: a fall is a 0.2 deduction and even a "small bobble" like stepping out of turn from the group is a 0.05 deduction. These deductions can make or break a team, considering that the final scores are just hundredths of a point apart.

"[We went] into NDA Nationals confident that we would do well because our routine showcased our abilities better this year than it has in the past," sophomore Karen Liu said.

The Tritons competed against 25 other Division II teams to earn their second-place spot at nationals. The competition was broken up into multiple parts. First, the dancers sent in a videotape that qualified them for 10th place in the competition which began on April 5 with the preliminary round. It was here that the rigorous points system directly affected the UCSD team through a deduction caused by a fall which dropped it from fifth place to ninth going into the final round.

The Tritons performed seventh out of the 15 teams that advanced to the final round, and from then on watched from the winner's circle, their score of 8.98 reigning supreme over the following eight teams until Hawaii Pacific University overcame them with a score of 9.06.

"In dance, you only have less than three minutes to prove yourself," senior co-captain Courtney Delaney said. "We have to be perfect and on right away, otherwise you're in trouble. You only get one try. After McLennon's score was announced and we were higher, it was shocking and we started jumping up and screaming. It was our first second ever, but it felt like first."

Cougarettes Claim Seventh National Title

by Brooke Eddington, BYU Communications

Brigham Young University's Cougarettes claimed their seventh National College Cheer and Dance Team Championship title in Daytona Beach, Fla., April 6-7, with a routine the judges praised for its creativity and difficulty. The BYU team tied with the University of Louisville and will share the title.

The competition is scored similarly to ice skating and gymnastics, and teams are given scores for competence in jazz, pom, and hip-hop, technique, staging, choreography and performance impression, as well as collegiate image and how well they represent their respective universities, according to adviser Jodi Maxfield.

BYU's cheerleading squad also made the finals of this year's competition and was awarded 10th place, its highest finish ever.

The competition will air Saturday, April 21, on the Fox Sports Network (FSN) at 1 p.m. MDT.

As defending champions, the Cougarettes represented the university well by providing their competitors with Easter packages and unrivaled enthusiasm during the announcement of the competition results.

"Last year there was a lot of tension," said Maxfield. "The team found opportunities to connect more with their competitors than in past years."

The Cougarettes captured the National College Dance Team title in 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2005 and again in 2006. They are credited with raising the level of competitive collegiate dance teams to a new and respected level. Dance Spirit magazine has listed them as one of the top 25 dance teams in the nation, and the team has been featured on a CBS television broadcast.

The Hornet Girlz Dance Team Holds Open Tryouts

The Sacramento State Hornet Girlz Dance Team held open tryouts on Saturday, April 14 at the Hornet Gym. The Hornet Girlz have become one of the most exciting dance squads on the West Coast, bringing home a national Hip Hop title at the USA Championships in 2005.

Dance Director Jolie Roberts and the Hornet Girlz were highlighted in a College Dance Team Central exclusive feature last summer. To read the article Click Here

For an awesome photo gallery of Saturday's tryouts featuring pictures by Matthew Beltran vist The State Hornet

The Hornet Girlz tryouts were also previewed by Matthew Beltran in The State Hornet on Friday. See below for the full article.

Looking For Talent
The Hornet Girlz Dance Team holding open tryouts Saturday

By Matthew Beltran
4/13/07
The State Hornet

The Sacramento State Hornet Girlz Dance Team will be holding open tryouts Saturday, April 14.

Applicants will be learning short routines and compete to become a Hornet Girl for the upcoming fall semester.

Held once a year at the Hornet Gym in Yosemite Hall, the team is looking for well-rounded dancers, who can fit a team dynamic, Dance Director and coach Jolie Roberts said.

"We are looking for girls who have a positive attitude and willing to the go the extra mile," Roberts said.

After the first round of cuts, applicants will learn more routines and finalist will be asked to come back the next day for interviews.

Roberts said the team would be looking for new dancers who can "gel" together as a team. Applicants come in with different backgrounds in dancing, but Roberts said she looking to add new members who can work together.

The dance team is a spirit squad on campus and performers during the football games, men's basketball game and various other events on campus.

"We have a great privilege to go out (on the field) at halftime," Roberts said," It's quite an honor."

Dancers selected in the tryouts will join the team and practice through out the summer, and a final evaluation will be done at the start of the fall semester.

Former Hornet Girlz have gone on to perform for professional squads, such as the Sacramento Kings Dance Team and the San Francisco 49ers Gold Rush.

Roberts is entering her fifth year as the team's director and coach after spending the last 20 years as a studio dancer and teacher.

The Hornetz Girlz have competed nationally and won the USA College National Hip Hop Champions of 2005.

In February the team traveled to Las Vegas and compete in the USA College National Competition and placed eighth in the Open Dance Category.

VSU Dance Team Returns Home After Nationals

By Chris Walsh
The Valdosta Daily Times

VALDOSTA — Valdosta State University has had a dance team for a couple of years, but the first time the VSU dancers competed on the national level was last week in Daytona, Fla. In an open class of 16 teams throughout the nation, Valdosta State made it to the finals and finished in ninth place.

“We had a lot of dedicated team members that had never competed before,” said coach Kelly Holland. “It was a learning experience.”

“You can practice a lot, but there is no way to prepare for the stress of being judged in a competition.”

In the Open Division that VSU competed in, size didn’t matter as teams from Division I and Division II faced each other.

Schools as far away as Hawaii to as close as Georgia Southern and the University of Georgia took the stage on the beach.

“It’s unlike other sports with whoever scores the most points wins and it’s very black and white. With dance, scoring is very subjective or opinionated — that’s probably the hardest part of it,” said Holland.

On Thursday, VSU competed against the other 16 teams and danced its way into the finals as the only Division II school. Nine teams would get the chance to return on Friday for a shot at the National Title.

“The best moment was after prelim’s, getting with all my teammates and listening to them announce our score,” said Dance Team member Naia Tilghman.

The dancers weren’t the only ones pleasantly surprised as the coaches and staff from VSU were in attendance, cheering right along with them.

“When you make it to finals, it’s kind of like, ‘Wow, this is more than we expected,” said Holland.

“It gave people the chance to know more about Valdosta State. We are very excited about going back next year and continuing to progress.”

The National Title eventually went to WMU with a score of 9.08, but a handful of local teams finished well. Florida State finished in third with a 8.96 and UGA finished in fifth with a 8.81.

As the Cinderella team, VSU finished in ninth place with a score of 8.44, but just making it to the finals in their first appearance was enough to call for celebration.

“I’m very proud that our team got it together and were able to go, and that we made it to the finals as rookies not knowing totally what we were getting into,” said Tilghman.

“This group of girls was great, and I couldn’t have asked for a better going away from VSU because I’ve never competed at such a high level.”

Now Valdosta State will continue dancing at the basketball games and getting ready to defend its finals appearance in 2008.

Georgettes Continue Long UGA Dance Tradition

by Katie Raines
Athens Exchange

The University of Georgia established the first dance team in the Southeastern Conference in 1959. The Georgette dance line has performed alongside the Redcoat Band for nearly 50 years. Members of the Georgettes performed at the inaugural parade of President Jimmy Carter in 1976, the college football national championship game in 1980 and in five major Chinese cities on a performance tour in 2006.

The Georgettes dance in front of the 92,746 Bulldog fans in Sanford Stadium at the pre-game and half-time shows of every home football game. They also perform at three out of five away games each year, as well as at bowl games.

The creation of the Georgettes began a tradition of dance in the SEC in both football and basketball. The Go Girls dance team, now called the Dance Dawgs, was created in 1966 when members of the Georgettes began dancing at UGA basketball games as well as football games.

Since the founding of the Go Girls, every team in the SEC has created a basketball dance team, and most have started football dance teams.

Wearing red and black leotards and tall white boots embroidered with the "Georgia 'G', the Georgettes have a look that has become a tradition in the Bulldog Nation. Fans recognize the dancers on the field as a common aspect of the half-time show, but can not identify the girls as the Georgettes.

Although the Georgette line is the oldest dance line in the SEC, it is one of the least known by residents of its state.

The Louisiana State University Golden Girls have become a well known and beloved aspect of LSU football. The girls receive scholarship money and funding for uniforms and props. They are also highly recognized throughout Louisiana.

"When you ask a little girl in Georgia what she wants to be when she gets older, she says she wants to be a Georgia cheerleader or maybe a majorette," said Jessica Cook, 20, a third-year member of the Georgettes.

"If you ask a little girl in Louisiana what she wants to be, she says a Golden Girl. Little girls in Georgia never say they want to be Georgettes because they don't know who we are," Cook said.

Despite feeling unrecognized by the university and the community, freshman Georgette member Traci Raines, 19, says she loves performing in Sanford Stadium.

She hopes that in the future the university, students and Athens community will acknowledge the Georgettes' long-standing tradition and its impact on dance programs throughout the SEC.