62 DAYS...

It has been quite some time since the last post! Since December, we have done SO much! First, attending the 2011 BCS Tostitos Fiesta Bowl in Phoenix, AZ was phenomenal! This was so amazing for our team (football AND the dance team). There were so many events packed into 4 days. We walked in a huge parade, we attended a block party on NYE where we performed and saw fireworks, we did mini-performances prior to entering the stadium, and everything culminated with the awesome game! Our team lost to Oklahoma, but the experience was unmatched.

Once the Fiesta Bowl commenced, we were all back on campus rehearsing for the next big thing- our collaboration performance with the cheerleaders at a Boston Celtics basketball game. We'd been preparing the material since the end of November, but we had a long holiday break so we were all nervous that we wouldn't remember. We literally had one hour-long 6AM rehearsal, and later that night we were all on a bus to Boston! The performance was soooo exciting and well received by Celtics fans and staff. We can't wait to perform next year.

Now we are in the middle of basketball season, and we've got top a top ten ranked men's team (No. 6) AND women's team (No. 2)! We definitely couldn't ask for a better athletic season, and its not even done yet. The worst part about it has been the weather- we're totalling a good 18-24 inches of snow. But it won't keep us down! We've been working in ballet, practice, and weight training so that we can be fit and fabulous by nationals. We struggle to find practice space on campus, but we're making the best of our limitations. Both dances are coming along nicely- we are super excited to start getting costume pieces in! We intend to perform our dances at the end of the month- this is ambitious, but the month of March is exactly what they call it- MADNESS. Our coach will be gone most of the month for post season basketball travel (we don't travel post-season), and we will be cleaning our dances like crazy. We can't wait to be in the Daytona Beach sun!!!!! More to come later...

WEEK 6 OF 24 ~ Happy Turkey Day!

Happy Thanksgiving to all! We had an awesome break after a very long weekend prior to the holiday. We had hip hop choreography Friday night, took a very long trip to Syracuse for football, finished choreo all day on Sunday, and then had an 8AM Monday morning practice, all before heading home for Turkey Day. The great part is that our dance is amazing! We worked so hard, and came together as a team like never before. The energy and effort that was put forth by all 15 dancers was incredible. So, at this point, we've got our entire costume and makeup planned out, and the choreography done- all before 2011! Yay! We're so ahead of schedule, and we have plenty of cleaning time.

On top of all that, UCONN Athletics are making this season unforgettable. We've got the football team one game away from being the 2010 Big East champions for the first time in history, and heading to the BCS Fiesta Bowl (fingers crossed for a win against South Florida...). We've got the men's basketball team upsetting the #2 team in the country (Michigan State) and the #9 team in the country (Coach Cal and Kentucky), AND the 2010 Maui Invitational champions. We've also got the women's basketball team who is still undefeated, ranked #1 in the country and on track to break the record for the longest winning streak of any sports team. Ever. IT'S A GREAT DAY TO BE A HUSKY!!!

UC DANCE AND CHEER BEFORE OUR BIG WIN AT SYRACUSE!

Upcoming events: jazz choreo Dec. 4/5th, the announcement of men's basketball rankings (go Huskies!), performance at our first basketball halftime (performing a jazz dance to "Amazing"), and 20-something days from Christmas!!! We truly have SO much to be thankful for :-)

QUOTE FOR THE WEEK:

If small things make you really angry, then that indicates something about your size.

WEEKS 4 AND 5 OF 24 ~ NOVEMBER AHH!

Well- November is living up to it's reputation! You like to think Turkey, and family, and pretty leaves on the trees; but we haven't had time to think about that stuff! Football is overlapping with basketball and nationals and finals...but its where we thrive. We've had some pivotal athletic moments within the past 2 weeks- a HUGE football win at home vs. Pittsburgh (#1 in the Big East), a HUGE women's basketball win at home vs. Baylor (#2 in the nation; UCONN continues 80-0 winning streak!), not to mention our men's soccer team is currently playing in the NCAA tournament!! It is a GREAT month to be a Husky!!

We've been having fun sitting on the sidelines at our basketball games, and we've started performing at a timeout each game. This is very exciting for our team. So far we've debuted the  "Breaking Dishes" dance from NDA camp. Up next- "Whip My Hair." We are very pumped for that!

SIDELINES!!!!



BEGINNING OF "BREAKING DISHES"

  Practices are few and far between, which means we are really stepping up the pace and intensity within our 2-hour window. We are coming together like a family should, and making it work! We did lose another team member, so we are at 15- but we plan to pull together like no other within these next few months. We're heading to Syracuse this weekend, and.............NATIONALS HIP HOP CHOREOGRAPHY!! Can you sense the excitement? Our music/concept/costume came together beautifully. It will be a very exciting moment to be able to perform it for the first time! But we must start on our cardio immediately :-/

We get to learn jazz from Kyle on the Dec. 4th weekend, and can't wait! We've got 6-7 different costume selections so far, but we're waiting to see the choreo until we make a final decision. So far, so good!! We're very proud and very pumped for what lies ahead!! Here are the quotes from the last 3 weeks...

WEEK 3 OF 24
“When I dare to be powerful, to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid.”

WEEK 4 OF 24
“The difference between try and triumph is a little umph.”

WEEK 5 OF 24

“Don’t be better than everybody else. Be better than you ever thought you could be.”

Week 3 of 24 ~ And So It Begins

November is a busy month for us! Last night we had our first UCONN men's basketball game of the season, and our first women's game tonight. It is incredible to be a part of such a basketball legacy! We feel so lucky to be on this team. The dance team was a club sport in the past, so we are slowly transitioning into becoming a regular part of the game-day atmosphere. It was very exciting to be sitting on the sidelines for the first time (for the whole game)! Many other dance teams may take this for granted, but it is a wonderful step in the right direction for our team. We are so pumped! We will be spending lots of time reviewing "sideline etiquette," however. Our coach had a nice LONG list of corrections/tips for us once the game was over! :-)

Friday night, we had a football game that resulted in the fans rushing the field, and an awesome win over West Virginia. It was a memorable game, to say the least! We had Halloween treats in the locker room, and we got to be Disney princesses for the whole game. Our two seniors Amy and Katy got to wear special "senior" tiaras.


WEARING OUR DISNEY PRINCESS TIARAS DURING HUSKY WALK!



SENIOR KATY WEARING HER SPECIAL TIARA!



SENIOR AMY WEARING HER SPECIAL TIARA!

We had an AMAZING (but cold) performance with the marching band. This was another "first" for our program. It felt great to perform in front of all those people under the bright lights. It is very important to us to use each and every performance opportunity to step our game up. We intend to improve our performance quality every chance we get. Here is a photo before our performance:


At practice this week, we had a long chat about our ultimate vision of our team. We focused on keeping that "clear vision" and not getting distracted from our goals. We know exactly where we want to be, and are prepared to take the necessary steps to get there. We were motivated and it definitely showed when we started dancing! We could feel an energy in the room, which made us all dance beyond our "norm." We could not be more proud of the progress we have made thus far, and look forward to big things in the future :-)

**Since we have 3 games this week, we did not have our normal Wednesday practice to reveal our quote of the week. So, next week we will have two!

THE ROAD TO NDA NATIONALS 2011 ~ CALENDAR CRAZY

Well, one week later and our holiday season schedule is set. All we have to say is whew!! A few of our members just returned from the University of Louisville last weekend, cheering on our Huskies. The football game didn't go our way, but we looked great and had a blast despite the 16-hour bus ride!!  Check out our photo from Louisville....

This weekend, we get to perform in the halftime show on Friday night with the UCMB (University of Connecticut Marching Band)! This is a first for our program, and we hope to continue the collaboration with them. This has been a season of collaborations for us- together we are stronger! Next week, men's and women's basketball kicks off and we are really pumped about that.

At practice, we've been doing some intense muscle training, targeting lower body strength. We've been working on our hips, thighs, calfs, abs, and glutes. We're also currently in the process of finding some time in our already crazy schedules to hit the weight room. By April, we'll be in peak physical condition!! Photos from our training session are below. We're cleaning and learning game dances, and it always seems like there's not enough time to accomplish all the things we have to do. 

On to nationals preparations- after a long (but good!) debate, we chose our jazz song! We're excited about it and ready to learn from Kyle (who was just on Glee, by the way!!). He's coming from LA in November and we can't wait. Since we've chosen a song, we have already begun searching for costumes. Obviously we will wait until we have the choreography, but its never too early to start looking (color, style, rhinestones, sequins- yay!). We reviewed 3 ideas last night, and will be scouring the internet for more ideas. For hip hop, we have a really unique concept so it was exciting to talk about costuming. Coach brought tons of ideas to chat about and we started the process of selecting a direction for our hip hop outfit. It's going to be epic :-) Finally, our second quote was revealed last night! By April, we will have lots of things to reflect upon and we will be able to look back on all of our hard work. Watch the video to see our quote reveal for the week..........

QUOTE FOR OCTOBER 28, 2010 ~ WEEK 2 OF 24

"Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts."

Week 1 of 24

THE ROAD TO NDA NATIONALS 2011 ~ ITS ONLY JUST BEGUN

We are busy, busy, busy! As football season is underway and basketball season begins, we are spending most of our rehearsals learning new material for our games. We have started the process of nationals planning, though. We have selected our jazz choreographer- Kyle Hill!! He will be coming in November to teach us. Currently, we're in the process of nailing down a song. We have 2 awesome (but very different) choices thus far. As for hip hop, we have an awesome concept that we are pumped about and are waiting on our music from the DJ. We are facing a few challenges as we start our journey-- we've lost 2 very amazing team members who we will miss like crazy!! We definitely have issues finding a place to practice, therefore limiting our practice times to twice a week for 2 hours. It is HARD to do technique, learn game choreography, and have "team time" in this amount of time- but we definitely try to make the best of it. In addition, we travel to every away football game so things are a bit crazy :-)

We had an AMAZING performance at our First Night (sort of like "Midnight Madness")!! We did a collabo with the cheerleaders and it was phenomenal. We are definitely using each performance as a stepping stone to nationals. We upped our performance quality, and delivered an exciting, energetic performance that our fans loved. We left the floor with so much love and passion for performing and for our team- AND we got to debut the silver sparkle half tops that we've been working really hard to look great in! It was really fun to perform with cheer as well. Definitely looking forward to performing with cheer at a Boston Celtics game in January!!!!!

We are loving our team and really focusing on staying drama-free and keeping our road to nationals nice and smooth! We want this to be an amazing and memorable ride, and we know that it will take all 16 members and our fabulous coach to make it happen. Stay tuned each week for more updates, and enjoy our weekly quotes!

QUOTE FOR OCTOBER 24, 2010 ~ WEEK 1 OF 24

You are not given the people you want in life. You are given the people you need...to help you, to hurt you, to love you, to leave you, and to make you into the person you were meant to be.

UCDT <3