Crimson Dance Team goes to Nationals

By Susan Peterson

Gazette Staff

Imagine leaping straight up in the air and -- in one swift motion -- reaching out and touching your toes and then landing perfectly in place.

Now do it to music, in perfect time with your teammates.

For some people this ability is an athletic gift, but it is also a trained maneuver.

Meet the Crimson Dance Team, an undergraduate group that combines the athleticism of gymnastics with the grace of dance. The team performs half-time shows at basketball games and also appeared in last fall's production of Coriolanus at the Loeb Mainstage Theatre.

Next week, April 2-6, team members will take their talents to the National Cheerleading Association's Collegiate Dance Competition in Daytona, Fla. There, they will compete with about 20 teams from universities around the country.

"We support the athletic programs, and most recently the basketball teams," said Azucena "Suzie" Verdin '98 of Winthrop House, who cofounded the team two years ago. "The background needed is dance, but you've got to have the technical and athletic skills as well."

The dance team, which competes at the regional and national levels, is one of approximately 30 club sports within Harvard's athletic department. Though other Ivy League institutions also categorize their dance teams as clubs, many state universities have dance teams competing at the varsity level.

"The women's basketball team thought enough of the Crimson Dance Team's commitment to men's basketball that they invited them to perform at the University of North Carolina at half-time for the NCAA Championships," said John Veneziano, Harvard Sports Information Director. "The dance team shows the spirit of the College, and their presence is appreciated by the coaches who don't always get to see them perform, but know they add to the atmosphere of excitement at the games."

For the past two years, the team also has performed for the CityStep Cabaret and ARTS FIRST, and it has worked with inner-city youth participating in the Peace Games program run by the Phillips Brooks House Association.

Tryouts are held each fall, and although the team currently has five members, the group could be larger.

"Ideally, we'd like to have anywhere between 8 and 12 members," said Verdin, who began performing in high school in Laredo, Texas. "Some men have shown interest, but in terms of competitions, it's primarily a women's sport."

Other team members are Hsin Chau '98 of Leverett House and Salt Lake City; Eleanore Chuang '98 of Kirkland House and Beavercreek, Ohio; Stefanie DeSantis '00 of Mather House and Long Island, and Hyland Hunt '98 of Eliot House and Atlanta.

Hunt wasn't sure she would fit in when she tried out for the dance team in the spring of '95. Now co-captain, along with Verdin, she's a committed team member.

"I was very skeptical," Hunt said. "I saw the posters advertising the tryouts, and wanted to be involved, but I had more of a ballet and jazz background."

That background has come in handy, however, with the team's varied dance styles.

For nationals in Florida, the team will perform a two-minute "jazz and funk" routine set to music. The piece was co-choreographed by Krismichelle Nohavec, a teacher at Methuen High School and a former dance team instructor in college.

The Crimson Dance Team practices four times a week wherever it can find studio space, working through a rigorous program of steps and routines.

"No one on the team is shy about suggesting new ideas," said Hunt.