Dance Team Information

UM Dance Team 11-12
Photo courtesy of Crown Photography 

 UM Spirit Squad Booster Club  
The UM Spirit Squads, which consist of the Dance Team and Cheer Squad, have formed a Booster Club. The Booster Club is open to former and current cheer or dance members, parents, friends and family. You can support your UM Cheer Squad or Dance Team for as little as $10.00 a year. All proceeds go directly to the programs to purchase uniforms, attend post season tournaments, travel to competitions and upgrade facilities. All donations are tax deductible. To find out how you can become a member, please click on the link below.
Click here for printable brochure

* Meet your 2012-13 team!

* "Like" the UM Dance Team page on Facebook.

  

2013-14 Tryout Information:

Material Clinic: 

Friday, April 12th (5:30 pm - 8:30pm)

Review:

Saturday, April 13th (10am - 12pm)

Tryouts:

Saturday, April 13th (2 pm Start)

Clinic, Review & Tryouts are all held in the Adams Center

There is a $20.00 application fee

For more information please contact UM Cheer and Dance Program Director Christie Anderson.

 


UM Spirit Squad Scholarship Opportunties

The University of Montana Spirit Squad is proud to announce that for 10 years we have been able to offer scholarships to our athletes.  We will have $18,000 available in the 2011-2012 seasons to be divided amongst the team members.  The program director and coaches will be responsible for determining how this money is divided; it will be based on specific guidelines; such as attitude and dedication.

Benefits of being a part of the UM Spirit Squad

- One of 30 exclusive NCAA "Nike Elite" Division 1 schools

-  Representative of The University of Montana

- Excellent education programs

- Highly experience and qualified coaching staff

- Access to the Jacobson Academic Center

- Access to the spirit squad trainer and UM Athletics team physician

- Access to certified nutritionist

- Access to the student-athlete weight room (conditioning, strenght and weight training with a UM athletic trainer 2 times per week)

- Recieve 2 complimentary tickets to all home Griz football games and 4 complimentayr tickets to all home Griz and Lady Griz Basketball games

- Travel: All lodging, transportation and meals are provided for all trips

        - The Dance Team represents the "Spirit Squad" at all post-season basketball games including the NCAA Men's/Women's Tournament

               - Past NCAA trips have included Utah, Idaho, Georgia, California, Washington, Florida, New Mexico

Thank you for your interest in the University of Montana Dance Team, home of the 1995 & 2001 FCS Football National Champions and the 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008 & 2009 National Runner-Ups! Dancing for the Grizzlies is an exciting way to make college life an unforgettable experience. It is not hard to understand why everyone gets caught up in the excitement, considering the quality of the sports programs here. The Grizzly football team has won the Big Sky Conference Championship 12 of the past 13 years and has traveled to the National Championship 7 times.

We average over 25,000 fans in Washington-Grizzly football stadium, the second-largest attendance in all of NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision! Our football attendance is first in the Big Sky Conference by a large margin. The Griz and Lady Griz basketball teams also average very high in conference attendance. The basketball teams are also very exciting to cheer for. The Lady Griz and Griz for the Big Sky Conference title every year. The Griz basketball team won the conference tournament last year and advanced to the NCAA Tournament. The dance team was right there to cheer the team on! These programs, along with many other sports, make Grizzly Athletics #1 in the Northwest for excitement.  Why wouldn't you want to take part?

As you can tell, there are some exciting possibilities for dancing at Montana. It is very rewarding, but it is also a lot of work and a big time commitment. The team consists of 12 members for the year-long dance season. We also have "red shirts" as well. The team practices together three times a week, have mandatory weight-lifting times and must attend technique classes once a week. There are many fund-raisers and appearances throughout the community also. There can be up to 4 games a week to dance at when sports overlap. The Dance Team attends all home volleyball, football and men's and women's basketball games.

Tryout requirements for dance audition:

  • Double turns (pirouette) both sides
  • Kicks - both right and left
  • Leaps - right, left and center
  • Sideline dance
  
  • Four sets of eight - own choreography
  • Progressions
  • Eight sets of eight - learned choreography 
  • Cheer