By Maxime Devillaz
Assistant Sports Editor
With enduring support from their two coaches as they push the dance team to reach perfection in every choreography they take on, the 10 dancers of the LIU Post team share a common goal: next year’s College Nationals in Disney World, F.L.
The team usually occupies the Pratt’s multi-purposes room to improve their moves four days a week, plus an additional six hours every weekend. The team strives for perfection when putting their choreography together. Although, dancing together as “one” requires more than just sharpening the actual dancing techniques, the team also runs and engages in cardio exercises, which are important parts of the weekly program.
“We” run a timed mile before every practice, where your running time must beat previous running times,” said Ashley Ioveno, junior team member and Journalism major.
Ioveno also credited Head Coach Cristopher Klein, along with Assistant Coach Angela Stanilewicz, for always being supportive of their members. “The coaches are loved because they push you, yet they never give up on you,” she said, referring to the coaches as the core element for having influenced a great attitude and mentality in the group.
The genre and choreography chosen depends heavily on the competition, but there are some dominant styles. “We learn choreography for the upcoming events, but I believe most of our routines are jazz, hip-hop, lyrical, or pom, which are typical styles for college dance teams like us,” Ioveno explained.
Trying out for the LIU Post dance team is an opportunity open for every student. However, unlike the majority of other sports on campus, being part of the team does not provide any athletic scholarship. Instead, the members of the dance team voluntarily become ambassadors for the University, and participate in an array of events, according to the LIU Post Pioneer website.
The team typically performs at every home game for both men’s and women’s basketball, in addition to the cheerleaders for the football team during fall season. They also often show up on stage for school or organizational events all around on campus, such as the Pep Rally and Homecoming.
However, the team also participates outside of campus, as they perform on local tri-state competitions in order to reach their goal to make it all the way to the College Nationals. Next up for the green and gold will be the New England Dance Championships in Westfield, Massachusetts on March 2.
Both coaches and members of the team constantly try to raise awareness of the program. They encourage students to audition,which is the requirement needed in order to be considered a name on the roster. The official time for auditions will be held on April 27, time and place to be announced.
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