Dedicated, determined and driven are all words that can be used to describe the 2009-2010 Red Edition Dance Team.
Their coach, Lori Shields, refers to her girls as the “Fabulous Five” despite a roster that has gone up and down with regularity.
“The dancers are not letting this inconsistency distract them from their purpose to create new and unique routines while improving their skills to reach a competitive level,” Shields said.
Shields has been at IU Southeast for three years.
She has also coached at Silver Creek Middle and High Schools for more than 10 years.
Her background includes dancing as a young teen then switching to Music Theater in high school.
She is still learning about dance by taking ballet classes at the Louisville Dance Academy.
Besides learning the dance routines, the girls are expected to fundraise and attend dance clinics and camps.
This past summer the girls went to the National Dance Association Camp where they learned many valuable skills.
Fundraising is a big part of how the dancers get to go to the camps, buy costumes, pay choreographers and purchase music for their routines.
Shields said she is very excited about having the opportunity to work with three choreographers this year. The choreographers are Josh Clauser, Vanna Jones and Jessica McCollum.
Each one of them will be working with the dancers on two routines throughout the year.
“Dance hard, live hard” is the motto of choreographer and assistant coach Josh Clauser.
“It has been amazing to me how hard these girls have worked and how well we have worked together with me being a guy choreographer,” Clauser said.
At practice the dancers go through a warm-up session and technique teaching with routine work taking up the rest of the time. They practice twice a week and all of the dancers said they also work on their moves on their own time.
Lindsey Black, nursing sophomore, has been dancing for 14 years. Although this is her first year dancing at IU Southeast, she is very excited about the new routine.
“Any kind of music with a good beat to move to is what I like,” Black said.
Black said all types of music inspire her and she one day hopes to work in pediatrics while dancing in the studio to keep in shape.
Missy Gourieux, psychology freshman, was in show choir at Castle High School in Newburg, Ind., and has taken technique as well as some studio classes. Gourieux lives on campus and said when she is not practicing with the team she is practicing in her dorm.
“I always have this desire to compete and be the best in everything I do. Hopefully, we can all keep working so well together and start competing next year,” she said. “We would love to be in the same league as U of L or the University of Kentucky teams.”
All of the coaches and dancers said they are eager to compete.
“Competition is a motivator for us working on Red Edition, we all want to get better at our art and to excel in every area we can,” Shields said.
Brittany Davis, biology freshman, has had 15 years of studio experience and is currently practicing on her own time at Simmond’s Dance and Gymnastics. She said her favorite type of dance is contemporary and she is very excited about the song for the first routine of the year.
The team captain, Tara Shields, general studies sophomore, has been working with the Red Edition for two years now.
She has been studio dancing since she was 4 years old and she is the coach’s daughter.
“My mom and I get along great, I am her co-coach at Silver Creek, and we just work really well together,” she said.
That is true for the whole team. They all said they get along well and they are grateful for the lack of drama amongst the team.
“This year is really going to be exciting, and we really want everybody to come to all the home women’s and men’s basketball games to see us perform,” Lori Shields said.
By SARAH LEE
Staff Writer
sbl327@ius.edu