The team has also taken advantage of its higher visibility to recruit from outside the freshman and even the undergraduate ranks.

Melanie Huang, a first-year student at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, was a member of the Stanford dance team as an undergraduate and figured she would try out for the Harvard team.

Rebecca Gomez ’04 decided to try out for the team upon learning of the open auditions held every fall.

Sarah Whitlock ’03, the final member of the incoming class of CDT, was actually approached by members of the team during an independent dance class and urged to try out for the squad.

“We sent e-mails back and forth and I finally decided to try out,” Whitlock said. “It was a long process with separate call backs and it was actually pretty nerve-racking.”

Indeed, all prospective members, including returning danceers, must re-audition. The captains monitor the tryouts, have multiple rounds of call backs and only take a handful of eager applicants. This past year, for instance, over 40 people tried out for the group and only the eventual twelve were selected.

“Auditions get more and more competitive each year,” says tri-captain Maritess Panlilio ’02. “And each year, we even get e-mails from freshmen in high school asking about trying out for the team in four years.”

The group, newly assembled in the fall, immediately begins practicing its routines for basketball performances and, more importantly, for the national competition.

Unlike past teams, though, the 2001-02 CDT was able to hire a professional choreographer to work with the group this year. And according to the feedback thus far, having a pro has paid off.

The Royer Treatment

If nothing else, Shaun Royer’s resume reads like the guest list of an MTV after-party.

In addition to being captain of his cheerleading squad at UT-Austin and a dance coach at three other colleges, Royer has had professional dance experience with the likes of Britney Spears, Jennifer Lopez, Ricky Martin, DMX, and Paula Abdul.

It’s no wonder, then, that the CDT captains jumped on the chance to hire Royer as the team’s first non-member choreographer.

“After spending a year advertising, we were really lucky to find him,” Panlilio said.

Panlilio and the other captains recruited Royer by e-mail and he auditioned with the team last year. After some deliberation, the captains decided to hire the professional choreographer in the hopes of improving the squad and alleviating the burden on the captains. In previous years, captains were responsible for conducting practices and designing the dance moves of every performance, including the national competition.