Suffolk University’s Pom Dance team will take over the Modern Theatre Feb. 28 for its second “Dancing with the Rams” event, a student-led showcase pairing dancers with partners of their choice in a competition for the crown.
The event will be held from 6:30-8:30 p.m. Student tickets are $5, and non-Suffolk tickets are $7, with a link available in the Suffolk Pom Instagram and on flyers posted around campus.
Now in its third year as an organization, Suffolk Pom is led by co-presidents junior Valentina Tolentino and senior Madalyn Stanley, alongside junior outreach coordinator Kaila Penrose and junior business coordinator Christina Costa.
“Dancing with the Rams” first began as an effort to create an opportunity beyond their typical end-of-year showcase. During the planning process last year, the California wildfires impacted the family of co-captain Fatima Samsara. The team pivoted, turning the showcase into a fundraiser to support her and her family.
This year, proceeds will go back to the team itself due to the budget cuts to the Performing Arts Office, which limited funding and made planning more difficult for groups, according to the e-board
Modeled after “Dancing with the Stars,” the event pairs each Pom member with a partner of their choosing from outside the team. Partners range from fellow Suffolk dancers to friends from home. According to Tolentino, about half of the partners have never danced before.
Each duo competes for a crown, either choreographing an original routine or learning a pre-choreographed dance in the genre of their choice. Before the competition, the duos will take part in a pageant-style introduction, dressing formally and answering questions from the student leader hosts.
Three student judges will score performances by holding up numbers. Audience members will also vote for a “people’s choice” winner through a form completed during the show.
Penrose emphasized the interactive element as a draw for campus engagement.
“It’s a unique event because you’re engaging the audience as well with the voting. I think that’s a way to get people to come because they know they’re going to be involved,” she said.
Preparation for the event began in September. The executive board set periodic deadlines for members to secure partners, select music and submit duo photos, but the performers held the creative control. Dancers choose their own partners, genres and choreography, rehearsing independently while using practice spaces provided by the board.
Costa said the result has been an exciting range of styles, from fusion to contemporary to hip-hop.
“It’s really helped boost our team morale in a sense because everyone’s kind of rallying together to create their own performance as opposed to just putting on our showcase where we have our own dances that we, as the e-board, make,” Stanley said.
For sophomore Kristen Kelly and freshman Phoenix Brighindi, two performers in this year’s event, the experience has brought both creative freedom and new challenges.
As first-time participants, they said they are nervous about performing but excited to showcase the choreography they helped create.
“It’s really cool to make something for myself and to show it off,” said Brighindi. “It means a lot that they trust us to make our own routines and perform it in front of everybody.”
Brighindi partnered with a member of the cheer team for a high-energy routine set to music by Britney Spears.
“They’re really giving us a lot of freedom and opportunity to do what we want,” said Kelly. “This is a Pom event, but … they also want to see us as individuals,”
Kelly chose a friend from home as her partner for a contemporary piece. She’s most excited because although they both danced in high school, they were in different groups and had never performed together.
Beyond the competition, the e-board hopes the event encourages students to try something new and support campus arts.
“We wanted to show other people that they can come and join any dance team that they want and that they don’t need to have that sense of hesitation that they wouldn’t be necessarily good enough,” Tolentino said. “As a college, it’s all about trying new things.”
Costa agreed and encouraged people to attend even if they don’t know anyone on the team.
“Expose yourself to the arts. Expose yourself to what performing arts groups do on campus and support the arts. Support the arts,” said Costa.
