Dance With The Honeybears On Oct. 25

Dance With The University .f Central Arkansas Honeybears is scheduled from 8:30 to 11 a.m. Oct. 25 at the UCA Prince Center. The cost is $25 per child.

Each child will receive individual instruction from a UCA Honeybear, a T-shirt and snack.

After the clinic, kids are invited to be guests as the Bears take on Southeast Louisiana State at 6 p.m. All little dancers will perform at half-time with the Honeybears.

Send registration form and check to UCA Purple Circle Foundation/Dance Team, P.O. Box 5004, Conway, AR 72035.

For more information, call 499-1719 or go to ucasports.com and click on dance team.

The Cabin.net

Support Randi Bishop and the UK Dance Team in Online Poll

Knoxville, Tenn., Native One of 28 Dance Team Members Nationally in Sideline Spirit Contest

UK senior dance team members, Andolyn Johnson (Left) and Randi Bishop

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Senior dance team member Randi Bishop, a native of Knoxville, Tenn., is in the running for the Athlon Sports Sideline Spirit Contest, with online voting running through Oct. 31.

Bishop, a four-year member of the Wildcat Dance Team, is involved in the online competition, involving 28 dance team members throughout the nation. The competition is split up into four rounds, with each round involving a different set of seven girls, voted on over a three-week period. Bishop's round is currently available for voting, up to 20 times per day, on www.athlonsports.com/spirit.

Fans need to log on and create a free user id in order to support Bishop throughout the competition. After logging on to www.athllonsports.com/spirit, click on "voter sign-up". Once given a screen name and password fans can click on round three, the round where Bishop is currently available for votes.

Bishop, who has helped lead the UK dance team to back-to-back third-place finishes at the Dance Nationals, is representing the Southeastern Conference and the University of Kentucky throughout the competition. One of two seniors on the Wildcat varsity dance team, Bishop joins fellow senior Andolyn Johnson as the leaders of the squad.

Voting ends at 11:59 p.m. ET on Oct. 31 and the dance team member with the most votes in each round is placed in the final round, also bases on fan voting. As of Wednesday, Oct. 15, Bishop holds a commanding lead in the voting with a total of 11,979 votes, with the second place girl checking in with 7,277 votes.

UI Dance Team Walks Against Breast Cancer

UI dance team, and thousands more, walk against breast cancer
Mike McDonald - The Daily Iowan
Full story at
Daily Iowan.com

CEDAR RAPIDS - For UI dance team member Michele Tangeman, whose aunt died of ovarian cancer, the Especially for You Race on Sunday had personal significance:

"She was my mom's best friend, and it was really hard for all of us," the sophomore biology major said prior to the event. "I will partially be walking for her."

Under a pink-clouded sky, a crowd gathered before a white banner at 8 a.m., ready to begin.

"On your marks. Get set. Go," the PA system rang out.

And so they went - all 10,089 of them - clad in long-sleeved, navy blue shirts adorned with a pink ribbon.

Among them were 19 members of the UI Dance Team, walking and running in the 18th-annual Especially for You Race Against Breast Cancer.

The event raised approximately $300,000 to provide breast-health services for uninsured women in Linn County. Since it began in 1991, Especially for You has generated more than $1 million and served more than 4,000 women.

According to the American Cancer Society, one in eight women will contract breast cancer. The disease is expected to kill more than 40,000 women in the United States this year.

UI Dance Team coach Erica Ireland said events such as these allow her squad members to show their colors: black and gold - and pink.

"My girls get so much from the university," the Iowa alumna said. "I think this is a really neat way to give back to the community that's given so much to them."

The dancers are also active participants in an annual show in Cedar Rapids sponsored by a group called Dancers Against Cancer, which raises money for the Especially for You Fund.

Dancers Against Cancer founder Jody Isenhour said she's grateful for the work Ireland and her team have accomplished.

Isenhour, a former dance instructor who couldn't attend the walk, battled and survived cancer three years ago - but lost her hair to chemotherapy.

"Dancers, more than anyone, understand what I went through," she said. "Our hair is part of our costume."

At the UI, two medical experts recently received a three-year, $180,000 grant to study metastasis - the spreading of cancer cells from the primary tumor to other parts of the body. Breast cancer is particularly prone to this, said Frederick Domann, a professor of radiation oncology who mentored grant-recipient Melissa Teoh, a postdoctoral research assistant.

"We need to understand how this process comes about and help prevent it," Domann said.

But Ireland's support comes outside the laboratory.

"Our mission is to go up there and provide spirit for those who are battling breast cancer, in memory of those who have lost the battle and for those who are dealing with the loss of a loved one," she said.

Cal Spirit Groups Deal With Budget Cuts

By Zach Williams
Contributing Writer
The Daily Californian

A strained economy and unversity budget have left UC Berkeley student spirit groups bearing off uneven financial straits leading up to Homecoming 2008.

While some groups like the Cal Dance Team, who perform at athletic events, have smoothly trotted through rough times, others have faced unexpected cuts.

The Student Homecoming Team faced a dire financial situation when its sponsor, the California Alumni Association, slashed funding to $8,000 from last year's $18,000.

Despite the cut, the group exceeded last year's budget through sponsorships from Jostens, Cal State 9 Credit Union and Kaplan, said Roxanne Rajaii, treasurer of the committee.

Carina Wong, communications director for Kaplan, said the company's donation of seven Kaplan courses to be raffled and three to be sold outright with profits going to the homecoming committee was in keeping with the company's "philosophy to help students succeed."

Evan Ettinghoff, student homecoming chair, said that since the committee's 2003 establishment, such forms of corporate sponsorship are not atypical.

Cal Dance, which is funded through the athletic department, has faced no difficulties during a time of financial adversity for others, according to the team's advisor, Diane Milano. She stressed that Cal Dance still travels to away football games.

Performance requests, which partially fund the team, have increased this year.

Zach Wong, the director of public relations for the UC Berkeley Rally Committee, expressed similar sentiments for his group when asked whether the current economy has affected committee activities.

"Personally everything (in the publicity budget) ... is paid for by the ASUC," he said.

Last year the group received $33, 062.69 in the 2008-2009 ASUC budget, an amount consistent with its allocation in recent years.

The University of California Marching Band, though, has suffered from university-wide budget cuts this year.

Band Director Robert Calonico said that a 7 percent cut to his budget this year, the defeat of a referendum last year in support of UC Berkeley's music groups and rising gas prices have caused the band to restrict its traveling schedule this year.

"(It's) the first time in my tenure that the budget fell short of the funds available (the band) has increased in size, but funding has steadily declined in recent years," he said.

The financial difficulties of the marching band have been assuaged by an endowment left by Natalie Cohen, class of 1934. The endowment provides the group with $25,000 annually.

"It was very generous to get a portion (of Cohen's $3 million donation to the chancellor's office), but we still have a shortfall and have to dip into reserves as much as we can," elaborated Calonico.

Efforts include asking students to pay a quarter of their own traveling expenses to attend two away games this season. The Straw Hat Band will miss an away game for the first time in its director's tenure.

Homecoming will be fully funded for all student spirit groups this year, but the contingents of the Cal Band that have stood at the sidelines supporting the Bears throughout seasons past will not be keeping up their usual appearances.

"It hurts ... and is frustrating because students really like going and supporting the university," said Tara Castro, director of public relations for the band.

ASU A-Team Member Faces Cancer

Sep 19, 2008
KAIT8.com

JONESBORO, AR (KAIT) - For the Homecoming game Saturday, you'll notice the girls of the A-Team wearing lime green ribbons as they raise awareness for Lymphoma, a type of cancer. While these girls are supposed to be the most energetic ones on the field, one of their members can hardly get out of bed in the morning.

Jordan Farris, a Nettleton High School graduate, is just like any other girl... She works part time, she's a freshman in college, and she's dreamed of being on the Arkansas State Dance Team.

But in August, Jordan felt a lump in her neck and after talking with her mother and doctor her life was suddenly altered.

Jordan was diagnosed with stage 4 Hodgkin's Lymphoma. On Wednesday, August 27th, the doctor said the dreaded word "cancer", and by Friday, they were removing the lump from her neck. After a CT scan, they realized there was a mass in her chest.

The doctor gave Jordan a 60-70% cure rate over the next five years and told her she would need chemo and radiation.

Jordan has chemo once every two weeks and that on top of her diagnosis has started to change even the easiest tasks. Jordan says the chemo part isn't so bad, it's the days that follow that she dreads.

"Your whole body is sore and run down and you feel like you have a fever but you don't and it's so frustrating, and then that wears off and you're not nauseas anymore. But you're just so tired, and fatigued and it's a kind of fatigue that you just feel helpless, you can't control. I'm ready for anything, give me chemo give me radiation, but no hair... I have not accepted that."

But Jordan doesn't let this keep her down. She's still going to class, she's still working, and she's still on the A-team...and she's still living her life.

" I live each day for that day but I look forward to tomorrow so much more. I didn't expect it, I didn't plan for it, but now it's my plan. I wasn't going to inspire people till I became the English professor, but now I get to inspire in a different way."

Jordan is so exhausted now, that she can no longer do the dances with the A-Team, but she does do their sideline routines and makes every practice.

As you head out to Homecoming, remember those lime green ribbons, and remember Jordan Farris.

A website has been set up so friends and family can keep in touch with Jordan and her condition.

If you would like to send Jordan a message or share your story with her, log onto the Caring Bridge website.

http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/jordanfarris

'Dance Team’ Has New Name, Success Ensues

September 12, 2008
By Stephanie Calhoun
CUA Tower
Full Story at
http://www.cuatower.com/2008/09/12/‘dance-team’-has-new-name-success-ensues/

After a record-breaking audition turnout this year, Catholic University’s Dance Team is ready to start an all new year with an all new name.

Captain Crissy Rentas, Junior Biomedical Engineering major, credits the name change from ‘Urban Dance Team’ to simply ‘Dance Team’as a contributing factor to the high level of auditions. “This year, when we advertised for tryouts, we changed the name to Catholic Univerisity Dance Team and the result was that about 30 girls showed up to try out. Last year, only about 15 girls showed up for fall tryouts,” says Rentas.”Overall, I feel the name change was a positive step in identifying who we are as a team and what we stand for. ”

And what it is it that the former Urban Dance Team stands for? “When these people heard the word “urban”, they assumed we were a step team or a break dancing team. A father of one of the girls on the team even joked with us referring to us as, ‘The Suburban Dance Team” said Rentas. She explained, however, that “Our team is made of girls from several different dance backgrounds, some without any dance background at all.”

One thing that isn’t changing is what the dance team does. The team of 19 performs hip-hop style routines at many of the home football and basketball games, as well as special events on campus such as Luaupalooza and the FOCUS culture show. Their first performance this year will be during halftime of the September 20th football game at the Duf against McDaniel.
Rentas anticipates that this year’s team will be a successful one. “We find that it’s a way to relax,” says Rentas. “You get to be surrounded by girls who love to do what you do.”