A week after the crescendo of a season that never ends, the captains of the Crimson Dance Team lounge together in their Lowell common room, casually and clearly at home.

Megan Cameron is sprawled across a futon and Thea Daniels leans forward in a chair, both blondes talking above the din of their roommates and each other.

As they speak of the Dance Team and its recent sixth-place finish in the National Dance Alliance (NDA) Cheer and Dance Championships, they exude polish, enthusiasm and, well, sparkle—some of the same qualities their squad is known for.

And the squad is definitely known.

There’s the running joke around campus that the best reason to go to a basketball game is to watch the halftime show. There’s the Lampoon’s comp poster that featured the squad. There’s the newest simile to enter the Harvard lexicon—“she looks like a dance teamer.”

And oh yeah, there’s the nearly 10 percent of freshmen girls who tried out for the squad during freshmen week this fall.

“[The turnout] was really, really impressive,” Daniels says. “We could have easily taken twice as many as we did and still have had a competitive team. But we really had to hone it down.”

Final tally?

16 girls—a mix of former competitive gymnasts, All-American cheerleaders and pre-professional ballerinas—with the only common thread being extensive dance training.

“You had to be on top of your game to make this team this year,” Cameron says. “On the team now, there’s no one who hasn’t danced all their life. It’s been their sport throughout high school, throughout childhood.”

And it’s that talent, coupled with year-round practice, that has propelled the team back onto the national competition scene.

NATIONAL HOLIDAY

Like many college kids, the members of the Crimson Dance Team spent their spring break in Daytona Beach, Fla.

Unlike most other students, though, they were competing in the NDA Chick-Fil-A Cheer and Dance Championships.

The two-round competition—the equivalent of a national championship for collegiate dance teams—featured 80 teams separated into three divisions, with Harvard competing against 26 teams in Division I, which includes all schools with Division I-AA football teams.