By Savannah Delgross
Special to the Denisonian
The action and momentum does not stop at halftime on Deeds Field. As the football team exits, a new team enters with grace and pep, demanding the crowd’s attention. The Big Red Dance Team provides brief entertainment for sports fans before another potentially exciting or frustrating second half of football.
There are 13 women on Denison’s dance team. Each bring their own sense of raw vibrancy onto the field. This can be seen in every sharp, clean movement, every zing in their step and all the confidence and excitement radiating from their faces. They are dancers, but more importantly, they are entertainers.
Their entertainment is a result of much thought and effort. Captain Callie Towles ‘16 of Simsbury, Conn. says, “We tend to choose songs that are popular at the time to draw the crowd in.” With songs like “Lean On” by Diplo included in their number this year, the team tries to fulfill their mission.
“We aim to provide an extra aspect of spirit for the football and basketball games and keep the crowd going and interested during halftime,” Towles says.
Towles, who has choreographed everything so far this year, mixes the styles of jazz and poms with ballet to complement the team’s choice of music.
Their uniforms also enhance their unique style of dance. The team was able to purchase new uniforms, despite not receiving any funding from DCGA this year, according to Towles. Their new, cheerleader-esque uniforms honor Denison’s colors, alluding to the team’s spirit and enthusiasm for their school.
The women hope to extend their enthusiasm and perform even more this year.
“We’re going to try to do as many basketball games as possible because we only got to do three football games this year…our last one is on Oct. 31,” Towles says. More performances mean that the team needs to put in even more hard work, but Captain Towles believes the girls are determined to keep livening up the crowd, no matter what sporting event they perform at.