Dance Team: Beyond the Sidelines

Written by: Kara Eliason
Head coach, Dance team

When most people think of dance teams, they envision pep rallies and halftime shows.

Make no mistake, promoting school spirit is our No. 1 job. We support students, athletes, faculty and staff by performing on campus. But that’s just part of what we do.

The world of collegiate dance is competitive, especially in Minnesota. Two of the three reigning national champions—the University of Minnesota and the University of St. Thomas—hail from the North Star State. In addition, Minnesota has some of the best studio and high school dance programs in the nation. Hamline is proud to be part of this amazing dance community.

The dance team competes regionally, and the results have been great so far. The Pipers placed in the top 10 in every competition they’ve entered in the last two years. It’s no small feat, given that Hamline competes against DI, DII and DIII dance teams from across the Midwest.

College dance has an intricate scoring system, similar to that of gymnastics. Judges score routines based on several elements—from synchronization to technique to showmanship. It takes months to perfect a routine, from learning choreography to making sure every dancer performs in unison.

This season, we hired choreographer Rachel Doran to put together our competition routine. She incorporated new elements, including lifts, leaps and turn combinations. The dancers learned the routine in September and spent weeks perfecting it. It was the most challenging routine in the team’s history, but the hard work paid off.

Here's that routine:


Hamline took 3rd place in the DIII jazz category at the Tommie Invitational in November 2009. In addition, the Pipers competed against DI, DII and DIII teams at the Mall of America in January 2010 and earned 10th place overall in jazz. Of course, winning trophies isn’t our primary objective. We compete because it provides a forum for us to showcase our talent, and it pushes us to continuously improve as a team.

The dance team will start performing again in September, and we look forward to promoting school spirit on campus. But we also hope to make our mark in the competitive arena—and maybe win some trophies along the way.