ORLANDO, Fla. – On April 10, 2022, Arizona State’s dance team competed in The College Classic in Orlando, Florida in the Division 1A category, the highest level at the competition, and placed first in jazz and second in pom*.
*Dance style descriptions at the bottom of the story.
There’s a misconception surrounding dance that it isn’t a sport, it’s reduced to just a creative art form and nothing else. Dance is a true fusion of art and athleticism. What some fail to realize is the strength, endurance, tedious practice, and technique, on top of agility and grace, required to maintain skills.
Competing at the collegiate level is the culmination of years of advanced technical training and hours upon hours of practicing all for two minutes to prove yourself, and your school, to the nation.
ASU’s dance team didn’t win solely based on their talent, there were multiple elements that had to come together in order for this to happen.
October 2021 is when things started to ramp up for the dance team. On top of practicing for football games, rehearsals with the band, and normal schoolwork, the selections for the competition team began.
“Once we’re in the groove of football season, then we’ll start transitioning into training for competition. We’ll meet on Tuesday nights for a few hours to practice tricks and technique just to get a sense of where everyone’s at, and then the selection for the competition team starts,” junior Maddie Anyaji said.
“This year the competition team was very selective, only 13 girls made it on the competition team,” Anyaji said. “If you wanted to compete, you had to be at the level to do both pom and jazz.”
Once the competition team was selected, a grueling schedule began. When the team started choreography for their pom routine, it was during the middle of the ASU football season in November. Members had to balance hours of practice, rehearsing, and being at the games on top of day-long choreography sessions.
“It was an intense schedule,” Anyaji said. “It was a constant back-and-forth between hours dedicated to football, basketball, and competition practices, and squeezing anything else in as best as we could.”
“We had practice on Friday, November 5; on Saturday it was Family Weekend with a football game against USC that we were there on the sideline for, then went straight into an all-day choreography session on that Sunday. We had another practice with the ASU marching band on Monday, and basketball season started that very next day. There was a double-header for both men's and women's basketball that we were there for.”
For their pom routine, ASU Dance Team Coach Bianca Caryl wanted to make sure that the music was representative of Arizona State and the west coast in general. “We wanted to make sure that ASU’s presence would be known.”
This was the team’s first time competing with a pom routine, having previously only competed in jazz and hip hop divisions. “Hip hop can be a heavily-saturated division at the collegiate level,” Caryl explained. “Some girls on the team have never truly danced in a pom routine. It was definitely a transition, but I was confident in their ability to execute it.”
Just two weeks later, they began choreography for their jazz routine. Anyaji said that the team “started jazz choreography with a three-hour choreography session, then headed straight to a two-hour practice session with the band, then right back to the [Sun Devil Fitness Complex] for two more hours to do more jazz choreography.”
“The next day there was practice with the marching band in the morning for two hours, then we were back to the SDFC for jazz choreography for another two hours, then we went straight to the bus for band day at the state high school band competition,” Anyaji said. “We brought in an outside choreographer who was only in Arizona for that weekend, so we had to make it happen. That’s the kind of schedule we’ve had to balance.”
The team had Quinton Peron of the LA Rams Cheerleaders choreograph their routine. After meeting ASU’s dance team through a virtual Pac-12 dance team summer intensive, Caryl knew that she had to keep that connection.
Dancer Sarah Reasons said, “Quinton was so great to work with, he’s such a trailblazer and for us to have him choreograph this routine meant so much to us.”
This routine was much different than pom, and had a personal story behind it. “The theme for our jazz dance was ‘Time’s Up’,” Caryl explained. “We really wanted this dance to tell a story, something that was unique to our dancers and this team.”
While this theme may have meant something different for each individual on the team, there was a collective mindset that resonated with them.
“As a team, we’ve had to overcome some things that other teams may not have had to deal with,” Reasons said. “I think it makes our resilience, our fight, our passion for what we’re doing that much stronger.”
For this routine, the team went with more of a contemporary style of jazz and chose Hans Zimmerman’s “Time” from the Inception soundtrack to convey that theme.
Dancing to an instrumental song is a bolder choice for routines. It’s music in its most basic form, which makes it that much more powerful in performance. Typically, jazz dances are performed to pop songs spanning from the 1950s to today. An instrumental song requires more artistry, musicality, and emotion from the dancers when performing since lyrics aren’t available to further illustrate the story.
Caryl explained that choosing this kind of jazz dance was “a bit of a risk, but it was the perfect routine for the team,” and she was confident that they could perform it successfully.
A few short months later, ASU’s team made their way to Orlando, Florida to make their first appearance competing at The College Classic. This competition is relatively new to the collegiate dance world, beginning just five years ago.
There were 61 schools present at The College Classic this year. Caryl commented that “there were well-known universities that we were up against. Texas A&M, Baylor, Kansas State, Purdue… they all have established dance programs.”
ASU competed in Division 1A for both their pom and jazz routines – the highest division at the competition. Jazz was the most competitive style within the division, with 12 teams in the category alone.
“There was definitely pressure coming into the competition since this was our first time competing there and ASU is a highly-recognized name,” Anyaji said. “We knew it wasn’t going to be a walk in the park and we had our school's reputation to defend.”
After their performance in the semifinals on April 9, ASU’s jazz routine was in first place with a 90.92 score, only 0.14 points ahead of defending champs Texas A&M. Their pom routine was in second place with a score of 88.76, just one point behind Kansas State University.
Caryl explained that “after the semifinals, we really tried to take everything that the judges told us and insert it into our routine for day two. We wanted to do everything that we possibly could to advance our lead.”
While some might be discouraged by a second-place ranking, the ASU dancers didn’t allow that to affect their performance for the next day. They were determined to put in the work to do the best they could in both routines. Caryl laughed, saying that the team was “out practicing and working on changes in a parking lot until midnight.”
As they prepared for their jazz performance, ASU's dance team knew that the stakes were even higher because Texas A&M's routine was less than half a point behind theirs. “We knew going into jazz finals, Texas A&M would bring their all,” Anyaji said. “We knew we had to step it up if we wanted to bring home the gold.”
For both routines, ASU was among the last two teams to compete in the categories they competed in. It’s a crucial placing since judges would see the two best routines in the division back-to-back before making their final decision about which team would take home the gold.
Ultimately, ASU’s hard work paid off. After their second performance in pom, they were able to close the gap between the final score, trailing Kansas’ 92.72 with a 92.42. “I’m really proud to have increased our pom score by that much after the semifinals and only be less than half a point behind Kansas,” Caryl said. “We proved that we belong here at this competition.”
As for their jazz routine, they were able to advance their score from 90.92 to 93.02 following their second performance, giving them a significant lead over Texas A&M’s final score of 91.24 and solidifying their victory.
Dave Sanchez, one of the founders of The College Classic, explained the significance of ASU's winning jazz routine.
“ASU’s win over Texas A&M is a historic feat for this school’s dance program and should be celebrated. To come into this competition for the first time and defeat the defending champions is something to be proud of."
“It was interesting that the jazz routine was very quiet, for lack of a better term,” Sanchez explained. “The fact that they were able to command the room with a dance that begins and ends in such an understated way, it’s a difficult thing to do and they did it perfectly.”
ASU bringing home two medals from The College Classic after not competing for two years due to COVID-19 proves the passion and strength of the team. Reasons said that her experience with this team has been “a dream come true, I’m so grateful for everything that we’ve been able to accomplish.”
As Caryl reflected on the semester and the journey they have all been on, she recognized the hard work and dedication of her team.
“These girls aren’t just standing on the football or basketball sidelines to look pretty,” Caryl said. “These are real athletes who practice and train like any other sport. They are dedicated to this school’s athletics department and to the school itself. They’re constantly balancing so many things and are truly an exceptional group.”
A description of mentioned dance styles:
Jazz is an expressive, fluid, and free-form style of dance. It’s a uniquely American style that originated from Black American society. Today, it is made up of many different styles, drawing from more traditional styles such as ballet and contemporary, as well as current commercial dance. Jazz has become one of the most popular styles among dancers since there are a wide variety of styles. Because of the various styles that make up jazz, it makes for a dynamic division to compete in.
Contemporary dance is an experimental style that abandons the rigid aspect of classical dance forms. The style applies unconventional movements and musicality with zero limitations to how it can be danced. The style is used to portray the world through the eyes, experiences, stories, and emotions of the dancers and can be incorporated into styles such as ballet and jazz.
Pom is a dance style that uses pompons for the entirety of the routine. Elements of this style are seen on the sidelines for football and basketball games. It incorporates clean and precise movements, visual team elements, technical skills, and elements of hip hop and jazz wrapped up in a high-energy, fast-paced routine. Because of its intensity, dancers must have increased strength and stamina in order to effectively perform.