Dancing Days

 So I said practice was over...just kidding! Yes practice did end, but then we got another opportunity to perform and of course we had to take it.   At Bradley there are three dance organizations. We are the Bradley Dance Team, also known as the Bravettes. The Bradley Bravettes Dance Team is a collegiate dance team made up of dedicated dancers. Their style of dance usually consists of Jazz, Pom and Hip Hop. You can see the Bravettes cheering and dancing at home basketball games, as well as the annual Missouri Valley Conference in St. Louis. The Bravettes also represent Bradley University at many university and community events, such as Lighting of the B, Little Bravettes Kids Camp and dance team clinics. Go Braves!  Then there's Orchesis Dance Company. They are a club at Bradley that choreographs studio dance based pieces and performs them at two showcases they put on a year.  Finally, there's Vitality. Vitality is a hip hop group that performs at Lighting of th...

 Now that we are in more of an "off-season" (although we still have one more performance left to prepare for, we are now focusing on more miscellaneous projects for our team. During the season it is SO hectic that all we really have the time and focus for is practice, technique and choreography. But with that 10 extra hours a week I mentioned in my previous blog post, we get the chance to work on projects that will improve our team as a whole. This off-season's project happens to be new uniforms!!!   As I mentioned in a prior post, we are not university funded. So even things like our uniforms, backpacks and team jackets, we pay for ourselves. Backpacks and team jackets we include in our team fee at the start of each year  but uniforms are a little too pricey to include in that. Uniforms can range from $150-$500 a piece (meaning just the top or just the bottom). We have worked so hard fundraising for MVC while also trying to set aside money in our Bravettes savings f...

With the basketball season now come to a close I find myself with a LOT more time on my hands. Since I don't have practice Sundays, Mondays and Wednesdays and no games I've gained an extra 10 plus hours in my schedule. I'll be honest, a lot of that I fill with homework and it was really nice not to have practice during midterms week. Most people might feel relieved but mostly I miss it. Practice is my favorite time of every day. We always say bring your best self to dance and leave all else at the door. It's freeing to have a space to release the stress of a busy college schedule and just laugh with your friends. Don't get my wrong, we work our butts off, but we do it with a smile. The bruised legs and achy muscles don't feel so bad when you have such amazing teammates to surround yourself with.  A goal of mine with all of my newfound time is to take some moments to reflect. I am such a go, go, go person. Always productive, always completing new tasks, always ma...

MVC Weekend 2023 definitely takes a spot in one of my top five college experiences. Even though Bradley lost in the finals, I am so proud of our basketball team for all the hard work and effort they put in to make it this far. Every game had us jumping up and down, shaking our poms and chanting "GO BU!" The energy in the Enterprise Center was unmatched. I loved seeing Bradley come together for this tournament.  The first game, prelims, was on Friday. We played against UNI and won by six points. We held the lead for most of the game with a couple moments of ties that we kept breaking. Then came day two, the semi-finals. This is where the competition got more intense. We won by a single point - an absolutely insane  game against Indiana State. That game had us screaming for Bradley, cheering with everything we had in us that BU would advance to the finals, and we did. In the finals we met our rival again: Drake. Bradley was seeded number one after winning the Regular Season Cha...

If you're a Bradley student, teacher, parent or fan you already know by now - we are REGULAR SEASON CHAMPS!  Sunday's game was the best basketball game I've ever danced at. Seeing Carver sold out was a once in a lifetime experience. I've never danced in front of 10,000 people before. Hearing the whole crowd chant "BU, BU, BU!" was insane. The whole game was so surreal. When the final buzzer sounded we weren't sure what was going to happen. My captains originally thought we would go out and do fight song, like always, but the energy in the stadium was too high for a simple celebration. The basketball team stormed the court and we all followed: dance team, cheer and then the fans. A mosh pit formed in the center of the court, people screaming for Bradley. It was a core college memory.  Today we're headed to St. Louis for the MVC Championship with the basketball team for *knock on wood* another Bradley win!  GO BRAVES!  Till next time - IF