Dance team wins at Guelph

Queen’s places first despite arriving just in time for competition

The Queen’s Dance Team finished first overall last weekend at the University Dance Challenge in Guelph. The large group jazz routine, called Ruby Blue, was awarded the highest mark of any dance at the competition.

The dancers came into Guelph with a great deal of confidence, having done well at the competition in the past few years. The team last won the championship in 2004, its inaugural year.

Co-captain Ashley Jenkin said she wasn’t surprised by the team’s success.

“We’ve always done well,” Jenkin said. “We were really hoping that we were going to win.”

This year the team consists of six rookies and five veterans. Having so much inexperience on the team makes the victory all the more impressive.

Jenkin said the dancers practise three times per week, but really ramped up their rehearsal schedule in the week preceding the contest with a four-hour practice on Saturday and extended practices until 1 a.m. during the week.

The team’s bus got to the gym late and they were forced to take the stage 20 minutes after arriving without an adequate warm-up.

Alicia Cartiginese, a two-year veteran of the team, said she felt there was a lot of energy surrounding this year’s University Dance Challenge.

“It was really exciting because there were so many more teams than last year,” she said.

Cartiginese said not having a proper warm-up was tough, but team captains Jenkin and Paige Cooper calmed them down.

The dance team has spent this past week preparing for the Bust-A-Move competition, held in Oshawa tomorrow. With a win already under their belts Cartiginese said they can be even stronger this weekend.

“We’ve already danced once on stage, so we’ve already got a feel for it. We know what we can do to improve and what not to do,” Cartiginese said. “Hopefully we’ll do even better.”

Cartiginese said the team feels it’s becoming more of a presence on campus. They danced weekly at basketball games throughout the season.

“We work really hard, and I feel like the acknowledgement that we are receiving on campus is starting to grow, which we really appreciate. We are at basketball games and we did do a volleyball game this year,” Jenkin said.

“People are starting to seek us out to perform for them at fundraisers.”

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