The Queen’s competitive dance team ended their season on a high note last weekend as they travelled to Guelph to take part in the University Dance Challenge, which brought together dance teams from 14 universities across Ontario and Quebec for a day of choreographed competition.
The event was held at the River Run Auditorium in Guelph last Saturday and was hosted by Terpsichore Dance Celebration, a company that organizes dance competitions for clubs and high schools across Ontario. The dance team has been attending the event for the past five years.
The 15-member squad entered representatives into four events at the competition—the team dance, two small group entries and one solo act preformed by rookie Jessica Diab.
In the team dance event, Queen’s was honoured with third place—and a cash prize—as well as recognition for the “fierce” ending to the routine.
One of the Queen’s small groups, made up entirely of the team’s rookies, placed third in their event as well.
Highlighting the day was the solo performance of Diab, who was awarded first place for what team said was a flawless dance.
Team co-captain Angela Cescon said the team was particularly happy with this year’s results because they are completely self-choreographed and coached, while most other dance teams have coaches who choreograph their routines.
“We are pretty unique because we do all of our own choreography,” she said. “Everybody gets to bring their own style and creativity.”
Sarah Rainboth—the dance team’s other co-captain—said that the team has been cut from over 20 to just 15 this year, but that the reduction has actually been very beneficial.
“We have a lot of rookies this year,” she said. “So it has been nice to get a new take on things. The team has really expanded because we now have a lot of people that can bring something different to the team.”
Cescon added that many of the judges commented on the originality and unity of the team’s performance this year.
Throughout the year the team has danced at the men’s and women’s basketball games and participated in charity events like the charity fashion show at Elixir and the opening ceremony of the Winter Adapted Games.
Both Cescon and Rainboth agreed that while it is great to be able to do as many charity events as possible and to dance at the basketball games, they would like to be able to enter more official dance competitions in the future.
Two years ago the team lost its funding as a competitive club and was moved into the recreational club category. This move seriously diminished the funding that the team receives from the University, which limited the amount of competitive events they are able to enter.
The final event for the dance team this year is the Queen’s Dance Club recital taking place March 23-25, but the team is already looking forward to next year.
Cescon and Rainboth are both in their third year at Queen’s and said they will be part of the team again.
“I’m definitely returning,” Rainboth said. “We would love to do more competitions and get out there a lot more. We would really like to do a lot more fundraisers as well.”
“It was a great year, especially because we were only third-year captains,” Cescon said. “The team worked together so well and made it really easy for us—everyone was great.”
Excited about the quality of young dancers the team added this year, both captains said they were very optimistic about the future. Working as a team to choreograph their routines is something that both captains believe to be very important.
“The whole team contributes to our choreography,” she said. “We are a pretty open team—we all contribute. As co-captains we really just organize events. Everyone has input for our dances.”
Rainboth said that for next year the team has one clear goal.
“We are trying to get our competitive club status back,” she said. “And we are really just trying to get our name out there, so people on campus know who we are and what we do.”
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