LU Dance thriving as a Club Sports program under direction from new head coach
3/27/2023 3:29:04 PM | Dance
Since being rebranded from the Flamettes to an official Club Sports program this past fall, Liberty University’s Dance team has found direction from Head Coach Kristan Ware in everything from choreography and character development to academic and spiritual emphasis.
“The Liberty Dance team is a group of collegiate dancers (that) exists to unify the school and bring joy to the school in the spirit aspect,” Lady Flames freshman Lacy Woodall said. “But we are also athletes and we train in every area that athletes train — we have to train our bodies physically with strength and endurance workouts; we have to train our flexibility and our technique; we have to train our minds and our competitiveness and our willingness to endure.”
She said Ware has done a wonderful job of instilling a Christian culture into the program.
“We have a very unique atmosphere in comparison to most other dance teams in the country,” Woodall said. “Obviously, we are a Christ-centered team. Everything we do is for Christ, every sprint that we run is for Christ … every turn, every stretch, every leap, every performance we have is for Jesus and my favorite part of being on this team is that I can combine my gift and talent that the Lord has given me with glorifying Him next to people who also want to use that gift to glorify Him.”
The LU Dance team is training to eventually compete against other NCAA Division I schools in the National Dance Association (NDA) National Championships in Florida. The program qualified to go to its first national competition in April, after auditioning in front of NDA instructors in January, but opted not to travel to Daytona after a series of injuries reduced their available roster of 22 student-athletes.
So far, the LU Dance team has showcased its routines at Liberty Football games at Williams Stadium as well as men’s and women’s basketball games and men’s volleyball matches at the Liberty Arena.
“We hope to perform at other sports as well, even sports that don’t get as much spirit fanfare,” junior Madison Repasky said. “For this team our future is not just things that happen here at Liberty, it’s going out into the community and spreading not only the joy of dance, but the joy of Christ, which is what we are called to do. Our future is so bright, and I cannot wait to see where it goes.”
Video edited by Kylee Lilge/Club Sports Video & Media Coordinator
