The Lafayette Dance Team has put in extra hours during the fall 2021 season to improve their level of performance and bond as a team.

This season, the team has performed at additional non-league basketball games in order to be extra prepared for the upcoming winter basketball season. The team recently elected a new senior captain and junior captain, positions which they will begin in the spring 2022 season.

“We want to kind of take the team to the next level, and we’ve already gotten so much better than we were when I was applying here,” sophomore Jenna Tempkin said.

Tempkin was recently elected to be co-captain for next year. The current captains are senior Kelly Mwaamba and junior Stephanie Davidson, and the team is coached by Billie Weiss.

“[Davidson] and [Mwaamba] have this very balanced captain partnership,” sophomore Cat Scott said. “They know exactly how to help us if we’re struggling with something, so I look up to both of them.”

Scott is slated to be the junior captain next year.

“When I was elected, I was over the moon that I’m able to give back to the team that had already done so much for my college experience,” Scott said.

Scott explained how the dance team helped her feel in touch with Lafayette during her freshman fall semester, which was held entirely on Zoom.

“When we found out we weren’t going back [to Lafayette in person] last fall, we still continued to do dance on Zoom, and that was my only connection to the school at that moment. It was my first group of people [at college] that I actually knew,” Scott said.

Tempkin also expressed that the Dance Team has been an important outlet for her as an underclassman.

“It’s been really nice to have that outlet to go perform with some of my closest friends,” Tempkin said. “It’s something I had all my life in my home studio, so to have it with a new group of people has been really interesting and fun.”

Tempkin agreed that the team’s current captains push the team to perform at their best and inspire them to work toward that next level.

“[Davidson] and [Mwaamba] really care about the team,” Tempkin said. “I owe a lot of my passion for the team to the captains because they really show that they really care about us and want us to perform really well.”

One of the main things the team has done this season to ensure successful winter and spring performances is performing at additional games this fall.

“We always perform in football games, but then we usually don’t start doing basketball games until January,” Tempkin said. “This is the first semester that the Dance Team has been going to those games.”

Tempkin also discussed the possibility of the team competing against local schools or hosting other dance teams or companies to come to perform in the future.

The dance team will be returning for their winter season with never-seen-before routines. Catch them on the sidelines at the home basketball games starting back up after winter break on Jan. 26.