While the Aggie Band may have football halftimes on lockdown, the Aggie Dance Team takes that honor at every home men’s and women’s basketball game — and the occasional volleyball game, too.
Their dance routines mostly constitute hip hop and jazz styles, and include pom sequences that serve to cheer on the team helping the Yell Leaders in energizing the crowd.
Baylee Fisher, dance science junior, joined the 23-member team her sophomore year after having danced for almost 17 years. She said even though it is a lot of hard work, the payoff of being on the dance team makes it all worth it.
“I want to pursue a career in dance and I think it’s a really good experience to have when I want to teach and be a coach to younger girls,” Fisher said. “Obviously practice and working gets tiring and overwhelming sometimes but once you’re performing, it’s worth it. Plus we get to perform at A&M, which is one of the best universities, so that’s probably the best part.”
Fisher said the most challenging aspect of being a part of the team, besides managing all of the time it requires, is making sure she is always presenting a respectable image not only for the Aggie Dance Team but                        A&M as a whole.
“Being a dancer at A&M we have a lot of eyes on us so we have to be a good representation for our school,” Fisher said. “Our appearances are a really big deal. Anywhere we go we have to be attentive and ready to go and not like ‘I dragged myself here and I’m tired’ because yeah, we do work really hard but we still need to look good.”
Business freshman Brittany Powell has only had one semester on the dance team but said the team has already made a huge impact on her freshman year because of the friendships she has made with the other girls and the community she has found within the team.
“I love all the girls on the team and I didn’t expect that because even in past dance teams I’ve been on there’s always been that one group you talk to,” Powell said. “I didn’t expect the older girls to be so welcoming but they invite me to do things outside of the team and are always trying to include us so I think we’re really like a close group of friends now.”
Madison Kuczynski, economics junior, is on her third year of being a member on the dance team and said it has taught her a lot about adaptability with leadership changes as well as learning how to get along with all types of personalities. Her freshman year on the team there was a different coach who she said had a more hands-off approach, but the new coach the team has had for the past two years is a lot more involved.
“My experience on the team has changed a lot every year,” Kuczynski said. “Freshman year I had a different coach and it was a lot more chill but there was definitely a divide between grade level on the team. But the girls who are now in charge of social activities and our coach is really into team building and team bonding, so it’s just been cool to see how when leadership has changed, it’s also changed the team dynamic.”
Kuczynski said her motivation in being on the team is not only about the joy she gets from performing but also about the experiences she gets to make and the friendships she has formed.
“The tournaments are really fun, like the March Madness,” Kuczynski said. “Last year we went to Nashville and we went to Oklahoma City, and we had great games so it was really fun to be there. Also we got to go to Disney in Anaheim so that made for really fun memories to look back on.”