Fall semester has come and gone! The team danced and cheered at the home football games, performed at Midnight Madness, taught the morale dance at the Greek life event, UDance, and took to the court at the home basketball games. So what’s next for the team?

Picture: The UMass Dance Team and the UMass Cheerleaders at the Minutemen’s last home football game of the 2007 Season.

Now, we are gearing up for the NDA (National Dance Alliance) National Competition in Daytona, Florida in April. Every year, it is the team’s goal to make it to Nationals. It is what drives us to work hard at practice and it is the reason why we participate in many fundraisers. Fortunately, our hard work continues to pay off, as year after year we are qualified by the NDA judges to compete at Nationals. This year is slightly different because we did not have to mail in an audition tape, but instead competed at the NDA/NCA Camp this past summer. There, we not only earned a spot, but we won a partial bid (some money to go to Nationals).

Winter break is almost over and we are excited to get back to campus and get to work. We have already picked a theme for our dance routine. The music mix is almost at its final cut and the costumes are under way. Also, our choreographer is arriving in a couple of weeks to teach us the routine. Everyone is anxious to meet our new, guest choreographer, who is currently a New York Knicks City Dancer, and see what choreography she has come up with. We are also looking forward to working with some of our UMass Dance Team Alumni who have offered to help us perfect our dance.

Picture: Here is the team performing on the Nationals Stage last year (the team is in the middle of a turning combination). Although, teams may be qualified to compete at Nationals, not every team makes it to the Finals Stage, the Daytona Bandshell. The first round of the competition, “Preliminaries”, takes place in an auditorium, and “Finals”, takes place at the Bandshell. Finals is reserved for the top 10 or 11 teams in each division. The competition is tight and we have not always made it to Finals. It is our team goal to make it to Nationals, make it to the Bandshell, and to place well.

Picture: The Awards Ceremony