A Dancer’s Guide to Joining a College Dance Team

We’ve all seen the viral videos—college dance teams are more technically advanced and artistically engaging than ever. Even if you’ve been strictly a studio dancer, you might be curious about what a college dance team has to offer. The good news is that the technique you spent years perfecting in the studio will serve you well on a college team. However, there are aspects of the collegiate team experience that differ from studio training, and it’s important to know what to expect.

What Teams Offer

While Nationals competitions have increased the visibility of many college dance teams, not every team competes. Some focus on game-day performances steeped in tradition, while others train for the thrill of Nationals. Like colleges themselves, dance teams have unique personalities that are often impacted by the culture of their communities.

The Louisiana State University Golden Girls (distinct from LSU’s Tiger Girls) are a danceline that performs along with the marching band during home football games with the band as well as at additional campus and community events. While both the Tiger Girls and the Golden Girls have technique requirements and hold auditions, the Golden Girls do not attend competitions. Blair Guillaume, coach of the Golden Girls, sees the team’s history as part of its appeal. “We’re real big on tradition,” she says. “With the traditional routines that we do, the stuff that’s been around for 60 years, it’s such a different movement quality. It feels a little foreign, I think, to the new crew because it is not how they’re taught at a studio or on their high school dance teams.”

On more recently founded teams, there’s often more flexibility. The team at Montclair State University in New Jersey, founded in 2014, has taken home four national champion titles in the team-performance category at National Dance Alliance . Head coach Jennifer Cichino and assistant coach Jenna Lipari Pazienza, both alums of the team, say dancers have more opportunities to create the atmosphere of the team. “We are so new to everything that we can just see what we like and what we don’t like, and it’s easy to alter things,” Cichino says.

A team’s character is more than a product of its history—it’s also a reflection of its coach. Grand Canyon University coach Jacque Genung-Koch advises interested dancers to get the feel of a team by attending clinics, talking to current members, and speaking with coaches directly. “I’ve had a lot of athletes ask, ‘What’s your coaching style?’ ‘What’s your philosophy?’ I think those are okay questions. I never get offended,” she says. “I say, ‘Don’t come to my team if you like being screamed at.’ I’m not a screamer and you’re not going to get that from me.”

For dancers interested in choreography or someday coaching a team themselves, a program that offers leadership roles can be a good option. Depending on the school, these roles can include captain, choreographer, and/or administrative positions like secretary and treasurer.

What Teams Want

For some college dance teams, especially those that compete at Nationals , the selection process begins before a dancer’s senior year of high school. This is year, the National Dance Coaches Association introduced a standard set of suggested audition video requirements and deadlines, in an effort to simplify recruitment. So far, more than 100 schools have signed on. Teri Rowe, executive director of NDCA, says the standardization aims to reduce stress for high school students and to organize college dance team recruitment similarly to college athletics.

The list of required technical skills might seem daunting, but Rowe and Genung-Koch encourage dancers to submit their best efforts. “If you can’t do a right aerial, show me your right cartwheel. There is still a lot of growth from junior year or the beginning of senior year,” Genung-Koch says. “I’m a dance teacher, first and foremost. If I see potential, I can help dancers get to where they need to be.”

Other teams hold auditions after students have been admitted to the university. Incoming freshmen can audition in the spring of their senior year of high school. These auditions can vary from single-day events, in which dancers learn choreography and perform it right away, to multi-round events that might require technique demonstrations, solos, and team choreography via a hybrid of online and in-person rounds. “I still value the in-person portion a ton, because we have such a fast turnaround time,” Guillaume says. Unlike teams that compete in the spring, teams that mainly perform at sporting events are busier in the fall.

Most dance teams, whether they recruit or audition, host clinics where dancers can visit the school, dance with current team members, and learn from coaches. Dancers can also reach out directly for a phone conversation or to arrange a campus visit. “Coaches at any school are going to appreciate the dancer taking the first step,” Lipari Pazienza says. “We’re going to remember your face and your name, and build a relationship with you.”

Academic acceptance is a requirement for every college dance team. If a dancer is auditioning, their acceptance may be checked at the audition or upon registration. If a dancer is being recruited, they should communicate their acceptance to the coaches they are in contact with as soon as they receive it. Rowe advises dancers to make sure the team they’re targeting is also a good fit for their educational goals. “I’ve seen kids try out for a dance team and when they get there, they realize ‘I want to be a nurse and the school doesn’t have a nursing program,’ ” Rowe says. She emphasizes that dancers are “student athletes,” with “student” as the top priority.

Dancers should also inquire about team-related costs. Some teams operate underneath their school’s athletics department, receiving university funding and sometimes offering scholarships. Others, like Montclair State, are categorized as club sports and rely on dancers to fundraise or pay fees for uniforms, choreography, and travel. The LSU Golden Girls receive a small stipend for participation and are required to register for a related course that gives them academic credit.

Whether you envision yourself kicking during halftime or holding a trophy, the first step to joining your dream team is to research. Ask questions and don’t be afraid to put yourself out there, even if it isn’t like anything you’ve tried before.