The dance team currently rehearses center-court, but they used to rehearse in the hallways of Hinkle. Photo by Ella Beu.
ANNA GRITZENBACH | ASSISTANT OPINION EDITOR | agritzenbach@butler.edu
Overtime, or “OT,” is an opinion column series where the Collegian takes national sports headlines or polarizing topics and gives them a Butler-centric angle.
Dance has long been a sport that is not respected as such. These athletes work just as hard — if not harder — than all other athletic programs on campus. Why are they not given the recognition they deserve?
Since its inception in the early 80s and 90s, Butler’s dance team has come a long way. Initially, they were student-led, fighting for rehearsal space and performing all around campus. They started as the Halftime Honeys in the beginning, transitioning to Bulldog Dance Squad and now combining all of those pieces to be the team that they are now.
Adjunct professor Marc Williams, who is the DJ and emcee at men’s basketball games, has remained one of the team’s biggest supporters from his time as a Butler student to the present day, he has also had the opportunity to be in a few of their routines.
“I remember them practicing in the hallways at Hinkle and coming up with their choreography … being able to see that growth is wonderful,” Williams said. “I get excited every time I see the dance team come out because honestly, I never thought it would be what it is now.”
Their season spans from the start of the school year to spring break, followed by auditions for the next season. Each season, the dance team churns out more than 25 routines, for football, basketball, select volleyball and select soccer games, with a new routine for each game. Currently, they practice three days a week for hours at a time in the beloved Hinkle Fieldhouse.
On top of their routines for games, they go to Universal Dance Association (UDA) Nationals in January, prepping two routines to compete at the Division I level. They placed sixth last year with their game day routine.
Dance team head coach Paige Burns shed some light on just how demanding their practice schedule is leading up to Nationals.
“[During] winter break, our girls don’t go home,” Burns said. “They go home for a handful of days around Christmas, but then they’re back … They get a jazz routine ready, and then [a] game day routine ready … they rehearse twice a day for at least three weeks.”
The hardest part of dance is making it look effortless — because people cannot always see that work directly, it loses its credibility as a sport as well as an art.
“It looks easy because the work has been put in,” Burns said. “We are consistent in what we do, but they work their butts off … they are so self-motivated and so selfless as a team, it’s just really refreshing to have as a coach.”
Executing a routine effortlessly takes great skill and athleticism — it is like sprinting for two straight minutes. As with any other sport, there is that crowning moment where you are able to see that your hard work has paid off.
At halftime, basketball games can be a little dreary — even disheartening — when the Bulldogs are losing. No matter the score, the dance and cheer teams are always there to lift the crowd’s spirits. It is a lot more fun to cheer on an awesome halftime show than to sit there and wallow in self-pity.
Grace Nielsen, a sophomore member of the dance team, highlighted her favorite part of dancing at Butler basketball games.
“The moment that we finish our dance, we can hear the recognition from the crowd and boost their spirits,” Nielsen said. “When it’s the second half of the game and we’re down and it’s kind of awkward because everyone’s quiet, we can just go out there and dance and get the crowd fired up again and then go back into basketball. I think that’s really special.”
Despite their numerous credentials, including eight dancers who have gone on to dance with pro teams — the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, the Indianapolis Colts Cheerleaders and the Cincinnati Ben-Gals — the dance team does not seem to be on Butler students’ radars as a truly triumphant team of athletes.
If this team were not there, their absence would be detrimental to the liveliness of games, community events and the campus itself. Their addition to the athletics department was a step in the right direction as far as official recognition, but we still have a ways to go in continuing to show up for them as we do for men’s teams.
“We’re very grateful for all the opportunities Butler has given us, and we’re grateful that we are put in athletics,” Nielsen said. “But I do think that there’s more that we can do to make all women’s sports feel more included within the athletic department.”
By supporting the dance team, we support Butler Athletics’ values of excellence, spirit and resilience. Just because dance is also an art should not discredit the fact that it is a sport too.
Many students have dubbed Butler to be a basketball school, and while this is true, its dance programs — Butler Ballet included — remain some of the best in the nation. Basketball did not win sixth place at Nationals last year. So, is Butler really a basketball school or can everyone finally see it for what it is — a dance school?
“I know that a lot of other sports — other men’s sports — are bringing in more money,” Nielsen said. “But at the end of the day, some of these sports that are overlooked are bringing in more students and more positivity. And I feel like that’s something that money can’t get you.”
