Rough Draft Due 2-26

Part 1. 

In my experience as a competitive dancer for several years, I have argued more times than I can count over dance being considered a sport. I do agree that yes, dance is a form of art. To perform this type of art though, an extreme amount of physical strength, teamwork and dedication is required. I was on a competitive dance tea at my high school, as well as competing at a separate studio. Over the years, I have found a way to convince almost anyone that dance is not just a form of art, but a sport as well.  Even though I can convince my friends and family of this sport, convincing school officials has been a struggle. In middle school, I had about twelve hours of dance per week and qualified for independent physical education. I had to go through a very complicated process with the staff at my middle school to convince them that what I was doing would be a form of physical activity. Also in high school, I was on the dance team that was not considered an athletic team. By my junior year of high school, after we won a grand championship national title, we were finally funded by athletics. It was not an easy process for our coaches and teammates to convince the athletic department of our success and athletic ability. Several other teams have had this problem as well. I came across a young woman’s blog. Her name is Meredith and she created a blog post titled “The Sport of Dance.” In her article she talks about how Gatorade officially recognized dancing as a sport in July of 2010.  Meredith states “Dance being considered a sport is about respect.” (Meredith)  I agree with this statement because it becomes more frustrating than anything when people say that dance is not a sport.  I auditioned for the Arizona State University dance team in April of 2012. After making the team, and moving to Arizona from California in late July, I realized I was yet again facing the challenge of being on a team that was not considered athletic. I interviewed my coach, April Hoffman, to get her opinion on our situation. April couldn’t talk enough about how hard working our team is. She praises us for our commitment to such a tough program to be in. She stated that being in the athletic program here would “financially put us in a better place.” April is a great coach and has led this team to a new level. I also interviewed out captain Britney Bennet. Britney is a fourth year member on the team. She mentions that “this year, our team has reach a new level for dance teams across the nation.” As a member for so long, Britney watched the team and the program grow. Britney says “Maybe at a point in time we would have been better off as a club team, but now there is no question of our ability to perform as an outstanding nationally ranked dance team.” On our team here at ASU, we are required to attend two workouts a week with a team trainer to maintain a healthy look, we also have monthly discussions about our nutrition and weight. We practice several hours a week, and leave practice drenched in sweat every time. We trained all of fall semester to compete at a national competition in Florida in January. After taking second place among all the major schools in the country, we got the recognition we deserved from the university in some ways. We are now training to compete at a world’s competition in April. Even though we placed second at nationals, we were chosen to be the only team representing the United States in the jazz category. In her interview, Britney talks about how the girls on the team would talk about how crazy it would be to be selected for team USA, never thinking it would ever become reality. Britney exclaimed with a huge smile “ I just want to run around and tell everyone how good our team is and how proud I am to be the captain of such an amazing group of girls. We are not considered an athletic team as now. I am proposing that due to our success as a physically active team here at ASU, that we be recognized as an official athletic team, and be placed under the athletic department. This is a problem for a few reasons. The biggest cause of this problem is that when it comes to funding, the school does not give us any money. It was a huge deal to all the girls on the team when we had an article posted about our achievements on the Sun Devil Athletic Website. In the article it states “The honor for Arizona State comes shortly after the team placed second at UDA Nationals in the jazz competition, as well as fifth in the hip hop competition. The second-place mark is the highest finish for the Dance Team in the five years they have contended. “ I feel like this statement says enough itself. Our team has done better than it ever has in years past. We competed against other teams that are completely funded by the athletic programs, yet pulled ahead due to our hard work and drive. After reading the Sun Devil Athletic official mission statement online, I found no reason that our dance team should not be under athletics. It’s over all goal is as follows: “The mission of Sun Devil Athletics is to provide opportunities for student-athletes to achieve at the highest levels of both academic and athletic excellence, thereby providing them with opportunities for personal growth, offering a unifying force to the campus community, and creating a source of pride among and support from the external constituencies of the University.” Not only does the dance team hold an incredibly high GPA, we also are highly involved in the community. Our team does about two appearances per week. At an appearance, we will do a range of activities from performing at charity events, to visiting children’s hospitals during holidays. The article also includes a statement that “Arizona State University is committed to the principles of amateurism, gender and ethnic diversity, nondiscrimination, ethical conduct, good sportsmanship, and fair play in all aspects of its Sun Devil Athletics program. “This could not explain our team more. We take great pride in our University and represent the school on and off the dance floor in the best way possible. Our captain mentions that “Talent wise, we exceed all the teams in the Pac 12, yet financially, we have one of the toughest situations. Several girls on our team are on student loans, and struggle to pay our monthly fees. There aren’t many scholarship opportunities for the team members to be supported through the University. We had to conduct several fundraisers and sell our posters at every event to be able to travel to Florida for nationals. The athletic department covers the cost for the other teams to fly out of state for games. It is very frustrating to know that almost every other team here at ASU is able to get the funding to travel to several events, and we struggled to go to just one. We also pay for our own gear that says ASU dance team and what not. Most teams get this gear provided by the athletic department. Funding is a huge struggle for our team because the athletic department here does not support us. Another cause for this problem is due to the lack of recognition. For our national’s competition, we had to miss two days of school. If a football player were to bring an excuse letter to a professor, I have no doubt they would excuse the letter and wish them good luck. In our case, when most of the girls showed the professors our excuse letter, most were still counted absent and lost points in class due to having to miss. I understand the term “life is unfair” but we work just as hard as other teams and practice just as much. Finally, it becomes a personal problem with the girls on the team. There are only sixteen girls on the team, and one is an alternate for our national’s routine. All athletic teams walk around with official backpacks that they are given through the department. We have to pay to buy and make our own personal bags or back packs. People often ask us if we are the “dancing devils.” The dancing devils are a group of non-auditioned dancers here at ASU that qualifies as a club. Some people do not even know that there is a dance team here. They only know us as the spirit leaders at games that use the big pom-poms. Little do they know, several girls on the team are at an athletic stage that exceeds most athletes here at ASU. As a direct member of the competitive team, I believe that we deserve to be an athletic team. There aren’t many different ways to create a solution to this problem. I simply propose that the head of the athletic department support the dance team with funds and athletic recognition.

Part 2:

            I can’t count how many times someone in a class or on campus have asked me if I was on the cheer team. My response varies because our team here at ASU is very undefined. Some people consider it the cheer team, others consider it the spirit squad but most ultimately I am a member of the dance team. When people ask about the team, they are almost always surprised to find out how much dedication our team requires. What we do isn’t all about the pom-poms and pretty smiles that the crowd sees. To the audience at the games, they see a group of attractive students that wave their pom-poms and do some cute dances. Performing at games is one of the easier tasks of being a member on the team. If all we had to do for auditions was wave our poms and do some chants, there would be more than seven new members on the team each year. Therefore, in order to propose a change in the dance teams position under athletics, I would have to address the highest officials in the athletic department. Convincing my friends and peers is no hard task, once I show them my schedule of practices and workouts; they usually never doubt that our team is a very athletic program. If I show them our national’s routines, any question of our talent is dis-regarded. Most of my research was developed from the official athletics website of Arizona State University. My main prospect to propose this adaptation would be Steve Patterson, the vice president of the University Athletics. In the compliance article, it is stated that “Student-Athletes,” including student-athletes participating in pre-season practice or competition.” There is no doubt that our team is competitive. We attend the biggest even that a college team could participate in.

           

Part 3.

The dance team here at Arizona exceeds the expectation of a college team. From an outsiders view, I could see that the dance team could just look like a bunch of cheerleaders who jump up and down in front of the crowd.  The problem that the competitive dance team faces is financial and representational struggles. This is because the dance team is not considered an athletic team here. A lot of teams at major colleges across the nation have also faced this problem. The teams that have been supported by athletics have had a much easier time paying for nationals and getting the training to earn their schools national titles. We earned a nationally ranked title on our own. We paid for our trip by ourselves and came home with a second place trophy. We are currently ranked second in the nation and first in the PAC 12. We trained ourselves and choreographed the second place routine. We also were presented the honor of representing the United States in a worldwide competition in April of 2013. Whether or not dance teams at other universities are under athletics, we have earned to be a part of the Arizona State Athletics. I am proposing that Steve Patterson along with the rest of the Sun Devil Athletic department see that the competitive dance team at Arizona State University be declared an athletic team. I am proposing that we get appropriate funding for uniforms, workouts, tutors and travel costs. I am also proposing that we get school gear to represent the athletic department with great pride. It is hard for the girls on the team to walk around and see that athlete backpacks that were handed to every student athlete. Sure enough they have earned their spot on the team of which they are not. I do not take any other team’s talent away from them. I do though strongly support the fact that the dance team is one of the highest ranked teams here at ASU in the nation. We also have an extremely high GPA average of 3.6. We have earned a spot in the athletic department and would take great pride in representing the program. The solution would not be a complicated process for the most part. It would require a professional proposal from someone other than myself, and a conference to declare the dance team an athletic team. When we won second place at nationals, they team had never experienced such bliss. It was smiles all around. We had made history at UDA college nationals; Tennessee and Minnesota have held the first and second place for several years now. For us to break into the top two was a very big deal. The dance team at the University of Minnesota is a full-funded athletic team at their school. Our talent is respectable even with theirs. Placing at nationals is all due to judge discretion; therefore, our routines were less than a point from each other. Is it fair to deny our team the right to represent the athletic program? It seems as if the athletic program should be asking us to be a team instead of vise-versa. It is only logical to place us under athletics. The recognition that we get would only up the reputation of talented student-athletes here at ASU.