Columbia Dance Team Reaches Finals at Nationals, Takes 10th

Columbia Athletics

The Columbia University Dance Team finished in 10th place in Division I Dance at the 2008 NCA/NDA Collegiate Cheer and Dance Championship April 11 in Daytona Beach, Fla.

Each competing team is required to perform 30 consecutive seconds of three dance styles; pom, jazz and hip-hop. Teams are scored in ten categories, including technique, routine execution, and performance impression. The teams with scores falling in the top half of each division advance to the finals.

This year, the Dance Team’s performance of a technology themed routine received a score of 8.58, high enough to earn a spot in the finals and a performance on Daytona Beach’s famous Bandshell.

Senior co-captain Alexandra Stylianos attributes the team’s success to their unity and work ethic. “Making finals this year was such a great accomplishment,” Stylianos says, “because it was the goal that we set for ourselves at our very first practice in September. Each and every one of us worked incredibly hard at every practice and we all motivated each other to perform ‘like a finals team’ at every [athletics event] in order to reach our goal.”

First-year head coach Bernadine Goldberg was pleased with the team’s performance. “We are so proud to have been able to represent Columbia University at this level,” she notes. “Nationals afforded us the opportunity to show the country that we have a world-class spirit program. We will only continue to grow from here.”

Stylianos adds, “It was such a privilege to lead this group of girls and I am so happy that we were able to perform on the finals stage in Daytona along with some of the most amazing nationally recognized dance teams.