The Manhattan College Dance Team places third at NDA Nationals.
KALEA JADE KING/COURTESY
By Leyla J Mercado, Staff Writer
The Manhattan College Dance Team took to Daytona Beach, Florida yet again for the NDA National Championship.
With jazz and hip-hop pieces “Sweet Dreams” and “Lean Back,” the Division One team placed third for hip-hop, bringing home their first trophy in five years.
With constant preparation in the midst of an occupied schedule followed by multiple trials and tribulations, the team continuously persevered in order to fulfill their will to win.
Rookie Kalea Jade King and sophomore dancer Aliyah Austin touched on their experiences from start to finish.
“The first couple of weeks we focused a lot on technique and as we got more into the season, we started practicing for our performances for game days,” Austin said. “Once basketball season was over, it was just nationals, nationals, nationals.”
“We start learning our choreography for nationals in November, then our coaches choreograph jazz and bring in a choreographer, whose name is Kenzie, for our hip-hop number so we have the whole weekend with her,” King said.
Austin explained that choreography week for learning both jazz and hip-hop was extremely intense.
Despite the dancers’ efforts, complications unfortunately came their way, leading the team to work and strive harder for their ultimate goal while shining a light on what they realized was most important for their team.
“We lost people,” King said. “We lost people to injuries, we lost people in general. We lost funding and they raised our fundraising budget numerous times just because the school wasn’t giving us anything. We were also still trying to rehearse and respace national dances while in the midst of a basketball season.”
Austin talked about the experience of rebounding from these setbacks.
“We went through so many hardships, trials and tribulations, injuries, it was actually insane,” Austin said. “Our captain tore her ACL and a lot of people went through a lot of things. It was just putting that aside and still working hard, coming to practice, and still coming in hard.”
Junior and rookie Christina Irvolino mentioned what truly got them through the season.
“Our greatest strength is being true to ourselves,” Irvolino said. “No matter what happened, we were always authentic throughout every hurdle we faced … We would crawl on our hands and knees to nationals if we had to.”
Irvolino recounted her first-year experience as a Jasper Dancer at the National Championship.
“The feeling of being on stage is indescribable,” Irvolino said. “Something truly magical. The vets, alumni, and coaches explain this feeling all year and it certainly met the expectations. I hope everyone can experience something close to this in a lifetime.”
The team’s collective efforts were undeniable when it came to putting their hearts on the national stage. With preliminary scores of 88.285 for jazz and 94.57 for hip-hop, the Jasper Dancers headed into finals tied for first place. After their finals performance, they ultimately landed their third-place win, bringing home a trophy they fought for.