Alyssa Doyle ’23, captain of the SJU Dance Team, is looking forward to guiding her team into success this season. The team performs at all Hawk basketball home games along with campus and community events. They also compete every year at the Universal Dance Association College Dance Team National Championship.
Doyle, a health science major from Woolwich, New Jersey, has been dancing since she was three, taking ballet, hip hop, jazz and lyrical. St. Joe’s was Doyle’s first time doing pom, a style of dance using pom poms, which the team does prominently.
National champions in hip hop in 2014 and 2015 and poms in 2015, the SJU Dance Team has struggled to maintain their top spot since. They placed fifth at Nationals last year. Doyle spoke to the Hawk about her role as team captain and where she would like to see the eighteen-member team go this year.
The Hawk: What do you enjoy most about being on the team?
Doyle: My favorite thing about being on the team is being with a group of girls that are very hardworking. We all have the same goals. I love performing at basketball games. That’s always fun. And just having a group of girls to always come back to.
The Hawk: When did you first consider being the dance captain and why?
Doyle: When I was a freshman, there were six of us. Then slowly, injuries, people transferred. There were only two of us [upperclass students] left. So I was like, “Oh, maybe I’m in the consideration,” but I just never really thought that it was going to be me.
The Hawk: Now that you are captain, what does that mean to you?
Doyle: Two weeks ago, we had choreography. Our choreographer, [Shandon Perez], flew in from Los Angeles. I was really nervous because she’s a celebrity to us, so I really wanted to do my best. It was such a cool experience for me to be the one in charge. I have to make decisions and keep everyone on the same track and keep everyone motivated. My senior captain, I looked up to her so much, so to know that the girls are looking up to me, that’s everything.
The Hawk: What are your goals for this season, both for yourself as captain and for the team?
Doyle: The goals for the team are to obviously do better than we did last year. We got fifth last year. We know that there’s room for improvement. We’re striving to come to every practice, and our team chant this year is to show up mentally, physically, emotionally, be all there and make every minute of practice count. Our practices are very long, so it’s sometimes hard to stay in it. We just want to make sure we’re putting all of our effort into every second. We want to make our routines this year, especially for nationals, as perfect as they can be, while also keeping it fun.
The Hawk: How does the team look so far this year? What are your strengths?
Doyle: I’m so excited for the team this year. We just finished our pom choreography. We have a lot of good techniques and tricks this year. Normally we’re a very hip hop heavy team, but the new girls coming in have really good technique and turns and jumps.
The Hawk: Are you continuing your dance career after graduation?
Doyle: I’ve been on the fence of what I want to do after graduation. My body is telling me to stop. But I obviously have been doing it my whole life, so I don’t want to stop. I’ve always thought about being a Rockette because I have the height for it and being on this team has given me more skills that go into the Rockettes.
