The Gophers dance team prepares for the upcoming school year and competitive season. 

During the 2024-2025 season, the Gophers dance team brought back both gold and silver medals during the International Cheer Union World Championships. Additionally, the team achieved success, winning two titles during the UCA and UDA Championships. 

The work ethic of the Gophers dance team shows that this type of success does not happen without rigorous training and dedication from both the team and coaches. They practice consistently throughout the school year and even during the summer. 

This past season did not end for the Gophers until late April due to their participation in the ICU World Championships. They then started up workouts in June. 

The June workouts center around each dancer’s skills and preparing for the upcoming season. They are more personalized based on what each dancer needs. 

The team also works out in groups during June, which allows teammates to reconnect and bond with each other before the official start in July. During July and August, the team fully reconnects and works on a variety of different things for the next season and game days. 

For the Gophers game days, the dance team likes to do a variety of routines to keep the audience engaged. Gophers sophomore Maddy Vercelli said the dances they perform are also a form of practice. 

“We do very much use our game day as preparation for what we do in January and nationals,” Vercelli said. “Our team is really big on: Everything we do, we do for a purpose.” 

During the regular school season, the Gophers dance team practices around three times a week in the fall. They meet Tuesday and Thursday nights, as well as on Friday. 

Gophers junior Alexa Anderson said that a lot of the time, what they do during practice varies depending on what they need to work on. 

“We will split our time doing game day, working on our nationals routine, and working on technique,” Anderson said. “It really depends on what our practice plan looks like and what point of the season we are at.” 

She added that the team arrives at practice 30 minutes early to go over some things from their previous practice and ensure everyone feels comfortable and prepared. 

Their Friday practice tends to focus mainly on game day preparation, however, it still includes a lot of different aspects. Gophers junior Maggie Fandel said while they may be focusing on game day preparation, they are still practicing other routines. 

“We get our choreography done, we are prepping our Endzones which are different for every game, while also continuing to work on our traditional game day prep,” Fandel said.

She added that part of their practice and technique is ballet. 

Anderson, Fandel and Vercelli have been with Minnesota for over a year and have multiple reasons for loving their time with the Gophers. 

Anderson said that one of her favorite things is the people on the team.

“The people really make the team, especially for our team,” Anderson said. “I have never met such hard-working, dedicated, loving people before.”