The Wake

Shhh…I have a secret: The U’s dance team is good. Really good. Four consecutive National Titles good. Despite being a dancing dynasty, the majority of students at the U are clueless about what the dance team has accomplished. While asking students around campus what they knew about their Gopher Dance Team, I was greeted with countless blank stares, puzzled looks and mystified glances. “I didn’t even know we had a dance team,” says Brenda Saxton, a junior nursing student.

“The Wake” decided it was time to unveil the best kept secret on campus. So we let Tara Peckskamp, co-captain and four-time national champion, reveal what it is like to be a member of the top, college dance team in the country.

The Wake: Why is the U’s dance team so dominant? Basically, what sets the U apart from other schools?

Tara Peckskamp: I think it is a combination of both work ethic and talent. Our first and second year was definitely our talent. Overall, what our team brings that other teams don’t bring is the emotion behind the routine. You can see a clean routine and you can see skills. Everyone can do the same skills. Everyone can turn, they can jump, they can perform a dance, but not necessarily portray what is coming through the words. That would be more of the artistic form of dance. Some people consider dance as an art and some consider it a sport, but it is kind of a combination of both. We combine the athleticism with the art and we portray that on the stage and that is what sets us apart.

The Wake: What is it like to win four consecutive national championships?

Tara Peckskamp: It is the biggest sense of accomplishment and I don’t think I ever felt that in anything I had ever done before coming here. The first year you don’t really know what you are doing. You are along for the ride and you’re just going to another dance competition. The years after, you really see what goes behind it and what goes into it and what it actually is. Winning a national title is so cool and it’s a big deal and at first you don’t really realize it.

The Wake: Do you think the dance team received enough coverage and publicity for winning four national championships?

Tara Peckskamp: I don’t want to say that we are just the dance team, but that is how a lot of people look at us. I guess I don’t expect to be like the football team or the basketball team because we don’t bring in revenue. It would be nice because we do work so hard, just as hard as the football, basketball or hockey team and sometimes it seems like we are the only ones who know, but sometimes that is all you really need. As long as you know your own sense of accomplishment and the things you have accomplished over the years and how hard you worked for it.

The Wake: What is one misperception people have about dance?

Tara Peckskamp: I think people think it is really easy and it’s not. They think it doesn’t take athletic ability and it is something simple. It is supposed to be pretty, but the whole point of training while you’re younger, like ballet, is to make it look easy. You’re not supposed to make it look like you’re struggling. It is supposed to be elegant and beautiful, not rough and tough.

The Wake: Did you feel any extra pressure this year being co-captain of a team that had won three consecutive National Championships?

Tara Peckskamp: Yea, oh definitely. I felt the pressure in the sense that I wanted it for myself so bad that I had to do it. We had to lead them in the right way. I wanted to do the things that would be right since everything was so new. I didn’t know if the way we were going about it was going to be the right way or if Casey Horton and I were leading the team in the right direction and motivating them enough to get done what we needed to get done. I felt as if we didn’t win, it would kind of be on our shoulders.

The Wake: When the U’s dance team goes to the Dance Team National Championships in Orlando, Fla. are you guys seen as the studs of the competition?

Tara Peckskamp: Yea, kind of. You can feel the aura around our team. I don’t think we are cocky by any means and I think that we are very humble considering how we could be winning four national titles. It is pretty cool. I am not going to lie.