CDH Performance Dance Team Adds Sideline Dancing to Boost School Spirit
Greta Cunningham
September 10, 2024
The CDH Performance Dance Team is adding something new this fall. In addition to their usual halftime performances, the team will dance on the sidelines during the first half of home football games.
“We’ve talked about incorporating it since I started dance at CDH,” said Dance Captain Alayna Verdeja ’25. “We’d seen other dance teams do it, and we thought it would be a fun idea, especially since CDH doesn’t have a cheerleading team. As seniors, we realized this was our last chance to make it happen, and it already felt like a big year for us with the new dance team space we got from the recent construction.”
Verdeja and Dance Captain Penelope Deignan ’25 approached Athletic Director Matt Funk and Assistant Athletic Director Tara Seifert with the idea.
“They were totally open to us doing it,” said Deignan. “We talked to them about the space we would need, and they said we could do it at every game. Then, we just had to coordinate with the University of St. Thomas, where football plays.”
Sideline dancing will increase the team’s visibility with the student body and future Raiders watching in the stands. As seniors are currently the largest class on the team, the captains hope sideline will help foster the team’s growth after they graduate.
“We have a lot of new dancers,” said Deignan. “We’ve had middle schoolers join us last year and this year. It’s exciting to know the younger program will eventually take the lead. We have a lot of new involvement, and I hope performing on the sidelines can get more people excited about joining.”
Over the summer, the dance team prepared for the new opportunity by practicing pom-technique, researching sideline choreography, and working with CDH dance team alums who perform pom with the College of St. Benedict’s dance team.
The team will rotate between three sideline routines in front of the student section of the stands where CDH Super Fans coordinate cheering.
“We’re excited to be involved and not just off to the side stretching and warming up before halftime,” said Verdeja. “We’ll be right in front of everyone, connecting students, players, and parents. I can’t wait to feel the student section get excited with us.”