There was a special
treat at halftime for those who attended the Appalachian State
University men’s basketball game against Furman University
last week.
Excited young girls from the community brandishing Appalachian
T-shirts performed dance routines at halftime.
The ASU Dance Team, together with the athletic department, sponsored
a dance camp Jan. 26 for children in the Boone community. The
two-hour camp included girls from ages five to 13, who split into
three different groups and learned their own dances.
The camp served several purposes, including bringing a bigger
crowd to games and raising money for the dance team to attend
the Southern Conference tournament.
Senior interior design major Lori B. Boles is one of the team
captains. She organized most of the camp, including dance choreography,
publicity and music selection.
Younger children ages five to seven danced to “Hey Mickey”
while the older groups, ages eight to 13, danced to either an
N’Sync or Britney Spears remix.
“We want to be involved with the community and the kids.
We went to different schools and handed out fliers about a week
before the camp. The athletic department also wants to see the
community more involved with the college. We thought this would
be a great way to get people in the community to come and support
the ASU basketball team,” Boles said.
“We are always interested in special performances during
halftime, not just for entertainment purposes, but it really helps
attendance,” said Ann B. Gillespie-Strickland, associate/assistant
director of athletics, who helped organize the event.
“If my kid is going to dance in the game during halftime,
I am definitely going to come watch. Twenty-nine kids are going
to bring a lot of parents,” she said
The dance team’s other captain, senior Heather L. Wooten,
acted as overseer the day of the camp. Wooten said the team conducted
all the instruction and enjoyed hanging out with the kids.
“The game was the best part,” Wooten said. “Seeing
how excited the girls were, their faces lit up; you could tell
how much fun they were having.”
Afterwards, parents came to pick up their children. The hallway
was full of enthusiastic little girls running back and forth and
smiling parents with cameras.
Dawn Lucas, mother of participant Stormy Lucas, said, “It
was a great thing for the school to do; Stormy really had a lot
of fun.”
When asked if she would attend another Appalachian State basketball
game Lucas said, “Yeah. I definitely enjoyed it, and I would
go again.” |
