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The Saginaw Spirit Dance Team Adds
Style & Sizzle to the Arena
By Robert E. Martin
When Stacie Geer first moved back to the mid-Michigan area from Rochester, New York in order to be closer to her family, the 25-year old physician assistant seemed to be missing one important component in her life - namely, an outlet to channel her considerable passion for the artistic energy of professional dancing.
Classically trained at the Linda
Oehrelin Dance Studio with 10 years in tap, ballet, jazz, and hula,
Stacie was an important part of the Nationally acclaimed Elite
Superstars Competitive All Star Cheerleading & Dance Team in Rochester,
and apart from missing the excitement and challenge of choreographed
dance, saw a significant need for such a thing as a Dance Team in the
Saginaw Valley.
Such was the seed of germination sowed
that led to the formation of the Saginaw Spirit Dance Team, an
accomplished and remarkably creative team of 14 energetic dancers from
throughout our area, currently sizzling the stands with their creatively
original dance routines, while the hockey team cuts up the ice during
weekend 'home games'.
"When I moved back here, one thing I
decided was to form a dance team similar to the one I was in New York,"
explains Geer. "I wanted to bring together an 18-30 year old crowd that
doesn't really have an outlet for dance in this region, unless you go to
Detroit. Consequently, I contacted Saginaw Spirit owner Dick
Garber and Craig Goslin and presented my plan, and they
thought it was a great idea."
Unlike cheerleaders, a Dance Team rarely
employs stunting or gymnastics. "Dance teams strictly engage in nothing
but dance routines," explains Stacie. "Equally, you will tend to find
more technically skilled dancers on a Dance team as opposed to a
Cheerleading team."
Upon scheduling auditions in June of
2005, Stacie - who has danced her entire life - was not only up for the
challenge of assembling a team, but enthusiastically surprised when
nearly 50 people showed up for auditions.
"We've assembled a team of 14 individuals
that have practiced twice a week since those June auditions, are now
halfway through the season, and also managed to make several community
appearances in Bay City, Midland, and Saginaw, so I'm very pleased with
the way things have come together, especially for a first year team,"
explains Stacie.
As word-of-mouth spread about the
team, so has interest, with many enthusiastic applicants phoning and
e-mailing the Spirit office. "It's important to generate
interest from
"We've got children at the games, the
elderly, and every age group in between, so we need to develop routines
that are appealing to all fans. But I also think the variety of
performances that causes us to create makes it more engaging for us as
dancers."
Practicing two hours twice each week at
the Midland Community Center, apart from Stacie the Saginaw Spirit
Dance Team consists of Nikki Davis, Aimee Phillips, Heather Lang,
Jillian Graves, Kristen Hertzberger, Comesha Massie, Michelle Rottiers,
Jayme Bevier, Shannon Ratelle, Tina Houshair, Chelsea Feltch, Melody
Merchant, and (yep, you guessed it, the only male dancer in the
troupe) Orlando Anguiana.
When asked what her biggest challenge was
in assembling the team, Stacie explains that it was the empty canvas of
an unknown entity. "Basically, the hardest thing was not knowing what to
expect the first year," she notes. "But we've worked our way through the
challenges and are better able to project how to do things next year.
The fact that most of the team has dance backgrounds is helpful, but the
biggest challenge is finding styles that make everybody look good."
According to Shannon Ratelle, much
of the magic resides in the spark of collaboration. "Many times we break
into groups during rehearsal and work to develop different routines,
then one group will teach and work with whatever the other group
developed, but the majority of dancers have extensive backgrounds."
"Initially it was a lot of work on my
part to have enough dances for practice," continues Stacie, "but once we
had the team together and an idea of who can do what, it became a lot
easier. Some dancers don't prefer choreography, so we don't force it.
But the ones that do enjoy it, we always work together as a group to
develop."
"The biggest challenge is coming up with
different steps," agrees Shannon. "Orlando is probably the least
experienced dancer of the group, yet one of the best Hip-Hop dancers
that we have. He did a lot of self-teaching and recently has been taking
and teaching some classes."
"In order to perfect our routines, each
dancer needs to practice outside of our scheduled practice times in
order to come together and look good as a team," adds Stacie. "Each
individual is needed to make the whole team look good, so it takes lots
of hours, but is well worth it."
An entirely volunteer effort, one of the
big collective goals and hopes for team is to be able to perform on the
ice next year. "Currently, we only dance in the stands, arena, and the
Blue Line Club, but next year we're hoping to find a way to make it onto
the ice. We'll be able to do more diverse routines with a larger space
on the ice."
Currently the team attempts to develop at
least one or two new routines per game, but often it depends upon the
complexity of the routine, which also affects the practice time. "Some
routines take over a month to perfect," notes Stacie, "while others only
take one practice. We do anywhere from six to eight routines per game,
whereas professional teams do one to three. But we set a higher goal for
ourselves because we have more performance time.
Of course, as with any collaborative
challenge, you have to be quick on your feet and with your wits.
"Sometimes there isn't a lot of time to make changes in a routine
because suddenly you realize you might not have enough room to make a
kick, depending on the space you find yourself dancing, so you have to
be quick and communicate well," comments one team member.
"Actually, this is my first experience
with a dance team," interjects Orlando," and I've never had any active
training apart from this. I just came in learned a lot from the
experience of everyone else. Some of the girls excel in jazz, whereas
I'm more into Hip Hop, so we trade-off on our skills."
"I think people have come together a lot
more than from when we first started," concludes Stacie. "When we first
started we were all strangers, but it's been impressive to see how much
we've grown in the past six or seven months."
"We basically do this for the love of the
performance, and I think it shows."
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