By Tierney McGilvray
Contributing Writer
It’s just the third week of the semester and the SBU Hip Hop team is already choreographing and planning its upcoming Halloween show.
Both coach Peter Bertoldo and choreographer Brooke Astley said they’re very excited for the academic year ahead.
After an emotional ending to last year’s spring show, Bring It On SBU v. Canisius, the SBU Hip Hop team said goodbye to many talented senior dancers, said Bertoldo, a senior Spanish and French double major.
“…Each [team member] brought a huge supportive presence to the team,” Bertoldo said.
Luckily, the team welcomed many freshmen, some sophomore and even new junior dancers at tryouts this year, adding a total of 13 new dancers to the team.
Practices last about an hour to an hour and a half every Tuesday and Thursday starting at 7:30 p.m. with even longer practices on Sundays. Each is broken up into 45-minute sections, in which different dances are choreographed and learned.
All of the team’s hard work and effort is nothing without the presence and support of their audiences, though, Bertoldo added.
“We’d love our audience to know how much their enthusiasm means to us,” Bertoldo said. “We love to dance, but the final performance with the support and reaction from the crowd are what really make it worth it.”
The team already began learning dances for their upcoming Halloween show, something new and exciting to their dance schedule. Aside from October’s show, the team will also be performing at the annual pep rally, at halftime during some of the home basketball games and then again in the spring for their final show of the year.
Astley, a junior sociology major and veteran team member, invited the audience to “…expect diverse dances” as the team’s “going to the try a lot of new ways to move this year.”
To anyone interested in joining the team in the future, everyone is welcome and no cuts are made. In short, the more the merrier! But once again, this hip hop season promises a full stage of dancers.
Two veteran dancers, sophomores Mya Cappellino and Sarah Koning, are both looking forward to the upcoming show, too.
“Joining the hip hop team was the best decision I made at St. Bonaventure,” Koning said. “I made some of my best friends on this team and it’s so much fun. I always look forward to going to practices.”
“Either join the hip hop team or attend our shows. Both are incredibly worth it,” Cappellino added.
The dates and times for this year’s performances are yet to be announced.
mcgilvts15@bonaventure.edu
