Cheerleaders and dancers patch up their differences

Teams work together to promote school spirit

By Andrew Bernius

Long have cheerleaders and dancers competed for crowd attention at athletic events. This was the case at Flagler College until very recently.

“A school with a cheerleading and dance team is a school with drama,” former cheerleader Maddie Mcleod said.

According to veteran members of both teams, the two have historically gone to great lengths to get under each other’s skin and out perform each other at the basketball games. “We would exchange scoffs, dirty looks and even go to the point of not watching each other perform,” said current dance team captain, Shannon Ryan.

Ryan says now this has all changed. The two teams are currently trying to be more supportive of each other in an attempt to end this “feud.”

Such newly-found support could be seen in the dual half time show during the Flagler College-Embry-Riddle basketball game in January. Both teams agreed that they wanted to make sure the dual performance was choreographed so everyone would be mixed together, to help illustrate the idea of school unity.

Dance team coach Holly Hill and cheerleading coach Danielle Yocum said they were very happy with how well the halftime show went and felt the crowd enjoyed it much more then the usual separate performances.

“We originally just made a big deal out of nothing,” Ryan said. “The half time show was definitely a step in the right direction.”