A dance squad or dance team, sometimes called a pom squad or drill team, is a sport team that participates in competitive dance. In a routine, a squad will incorporate a specific dance style (i.e. hip-hop, jazz or lyrical), technical work (tumbling, leaps, turns, kicks, splits, jumps) and, depending on the routine, pompon and/or cheers. A pom squad slightly differs from a regular dance squad in that it uses pom-poms in all its dance routines, whilst a regular dance squad may or may not do pom work in a dance routine. Dance teams are also popular in performance dance, especially at sporting events, most commonly performing during the pre-game and halftime periods (and, in a number of cases, on the sidelines) of football and basketball games.

Dance is a highly competitive sport. Youth/association, middle school, high school, collegiate, all-star, and professional teams compete on local, regional, state, national, and international levels. Teams are judged on a number of criteria including form, team unison, showmanship, precision of motions, jumps, leaps, turns, choreography, enthusiasm, and, in the case of pom squads, visual use of poms-poms. Pom squads are like cheerleading or dance, but they use poms. (pom-poms). Pom squads also use kicklines in their routines, after they set down their poms, or choose to hold them during the kickline. A kickline routine is a routine of kicks, which cheerleaders also use. High kicks, fan kicks, low kicks, and kicks that go to their waist. Pom squads regularly compete in competitions, and perform at sporting events. Sometimes, a cheerleading squad will perform a pom routine for a competition.

Overview[link]

Dance squads emphasize precise, synchronized motions along with technical dance skills (such as jumps, turns, and leaps). Their routines encompass various styles of dance including the more usually incoprorated hip hop, jazz, lyrical, and kickline styles, to the more unusually used styles like disco, rock and roll, and gospel. A key feature of the dance is the ability to change formations very smoothly.

Types of dance squads[link]

High School and Collegiate[link]

Traditional high school dance/pom squads include competition, performance dance, and promoting school spirit with dance. Dance/pom is usually a year-round sport, performing in competitions and at sporting events, most commonly football and basketball games. Some schools also have their dance team perform short sideline dances. Traditionally, dance teams also perform at school pep rallies.^[1]

College dance squads are like traditional high school squads in that both include competition and performance dance, but there are many different aspects of being a dancer on a college dance team compared to being on a high school dance squad. For example, a college squad will most likely dance on the sidelines at games or have a specific spot in the stands whilst high schools usually reserve that for cheerleaders.^[2]

Tryouts[link]

Many dance squads both in High school and College require everyone to attend a tryout. These are typically held in the spring or early summer, before most sports begin. There are many different aspects of a tryout. The first thing many tryouts do is go through basic dance techniques that will be used during the season. These include but are not limited to toe touches, fouetté turn combinations and switch leaps. Other things that are many times included in a dance team tryout is the expectation that you can quickly master multiple short routines in different styles. Depending on what type of dance team the tryout is for will depend on what styles of dance you must know. NDA teams compete with routines that must incorporate jazz, hip hop and pom styles, so many times you will learn a routine in each of these types of dance.^[3]

All-Star[link]

The U.S. All Star Federation governs all-star dance-pom squads.

Tryouts for all-star dance squads may be executed in several different ways. Some all-star teams choose to have just one large tryout in the spring, while other teams may choose to have a large tryout in the spring and another in the fall. A large number of all-star dance squads choose to have year-round open tryouts where anyone can try out at any time during the season. The opportunity to compete in many large competitions attracts dancers to all-star programs. All-star dance teams can compete regionally, nationally, and even internationally.^[4]

Professional[link]

NFL, NBA, MLS and NLL are all more Dance Teams than cheerleading squads.

Competitions[link]

The prestigious National Dance/Drill Team competitions, from Champion Tours & Events, Inc., are for secondary school and all-star dance teams, with national competitions held in New York City, Los Angeles, and, most famously, in Orlando, Florida. The Florida team competition is held at the University of Central Florida with the NYC competition held at the College of Staten Island and the L.A. team competition held at the Mater Dei High School arena.^[5]

The Universal Dance Association, founded in 1980, holds a national championship for high school, college, and all-star dance teams and is the only national dance team championship endorsed by the National Federation of State High School Associations. The national championship is held at Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida. Approximately 300 high school, college, and all-star teams compete at the competition annually.^[6]

See also[link]

• Competitive dance
• Dance
• Majorette (dancer)
• Gotta Kick It Up!
• Cheerleading
• Ōendan

References[link]