By Hannah Wolke, Digital Communications Manager

Last week Xavier’s Dance Team closed out another season filled with early mornings and late nights in their preparation for basketball games and nationals.

Emma DiStefano, senior co-captain of the Xavier Dance Team, gave us a look into how their season unfolds. 

The team kicked off the year with National Dance Alliance (NDA) camp. “If we do well, then we get to go to nationals in April,” DiStefano said. 

NDA is a national competition where college dance teams from across the country compete in Daytona Beach, Florida. 

The competition is split into categories: pom, hip hop, jazz, team (a combination of styles) and game day. Xavier competes in both pom and hip hop. This year, 19 teams competed in Xavier’s pom division, but only 12 advanced to the finals. 

Behind the scenes, there is a lot of work that goes into creating their routines, including choosing choreographers. 

“For hip hop, we had a connection through the University of Louisville’s The Ladybirds, Maddy Robinson,” DiStefano said. “For pom, we worked with someone we knew from the University of Cincinatti.”  

The team also plays a role in shaping the themes for their dances. 

“For pom we wanted an ’80s-themed Queen City vibe, but also something inspired by Queen, the band,” DiStefano said. “I think we saw something Queen-related last year and wanted to do our own take on it.” 

For hip hop, they went with a ’90s theme. All their music was custom-mixed by a sound mixer to fit the energy and timing of their choreography. 

Team members must try out for each routine. Each dance has its own dedicated choreography day. 

“We’ve had 8-hour practices in September just to learn a routine,” DiStefano said. 

Once basketball season kicks off, their schedule ramps up. The team has 6 a.m. practices and evening practices multiple times a week to prepare for both games and nationals. 

“In addition to remembering our nationals routines, we’re learning a new routine for every single game,” DiStefano said. “Veteran members also help teach new dancers all the sideline routines and cheers they’ll need to perform during games.” 

The Xavier Dance Team had a busy year preparing for their annual visit to the NDA competition where they performed in the pom and hip hop categories.

When basketball season ends, the team shifts into full competition mode. In order to compete in Nationals, the team helped work at Reds games and received generous backing from Currito and Stone Lanes to help fund their trip to Nationals and as their costumes.

Even their costumes are a labor of love. They order them through Varsity, but design everything from scratch. 

“For our Queen costume, we knew we wanted black,” DiStefano said. “It was a cool experience for us to be able to design them ourselves.” 

“Being a senior now and seeing all the new talent come in makes me so emotional to leave,” senior marketing and management major Ryleigh Neill said. “You don’t realize it’s the last time you hit the stage until it happens… you just have to be content with what you did, and I think I am over my 10-year career.” 

For Neill and her fellow seniors, the end of the season marked more than just the close of another competition — it was the end of an era for them. But through the emotions, there was also a sense of pride. 

“The way that we performed was way above our expectations,” Neill said. “And the program is in such good hands.” 

That future is already taking shape, with passionate newcomers like first year nursing major Cecily Weiss, stepping onto the floor. 

“We didn’t place how we wanted to,” Weiss said. “But we talked about going onto the floor with no regrets and with our all.”

The Xavier Dance Team continues to build on its strong legacy—ending this season with pride and stepping confidently into the next.