“Before we started this club, we never experienced certain forms of dance,” says Danielle Gordon, co-president of The Macaulay Dancers, one of Macaulay’s rising clubs. The Macaulay Dancers is comprised of Macaulay students from various campuses and focuses on a range of dances, including modern dance, jazz, Bollywood, hip-hop, and tap. The team has performed at events such as the Macaulay Global Medical Brigades Fundraiser and Macaulay Arts Night 2013, and is planning its own showcase in the near future to perform dance pieces for the Macaulay community. During its first two years, the club has grown into one of Macaulay’s popular organizations, and as it looks towards its first competition, it is ready to reach new heights.
The Dancers, which is led by co-presidents Danielle Gordon and Shannon Murphy, has two teams: recreational and competition. The recreational team is open to all Macaulay students. The team learns about different styles of dance through workshops, and no prior experience is required. For the competition team, the club holds an audition in early September where current members teach a short dance, separate competitors into small groups, and judge participants based on how well they perform the dance. The dancers that are chosen for this team participate in regional competitions. The Dancers will be performing at its first competition during the last weekend of April, with the exact date to be announced.
Looking ahead, the Dancers is “planning on continuing to expand our competition team and hopefully, welcoming new members to both teams next year,” says Murphy. The club is preparing new choreography and forms of dance for both the recreational and competition team and hopes to be even more involved in competitions during the 2014-2015 school year. As the club continues to grow, the Dancers has found a way to stay involved in the Macaulay community. The Dancers will be appearing in the final episode of Puffy Slicks near the end of the semester and has danced for a cause at the Valentine’s Day event combating violence against women.
The members continue to learn from each other while embodying the Macaulay spirit. Member Sigal Israilov says, “I’m surrounded by talented and hard-working girls who inspire me to become a better dancer and a more active member of the Macaulay community.”
Gordon adds, “Our team has become such a close-knit family and we have made some great friendships throughout the club.” The Macaulay Dancers is open to the entire Macaulay community and meets on Friday afternoons. For more information, please contact the Dancers at themacaulaydancers@gmail.com or like the Facebook page here.
