After more than eight years of rehearsals and performances, Knightline, Geneseo's unofficial dance team, has gained speed, members and recognition.
Knightline has always adhered to a strict schedule of performances at varsity basketball and lacrosse games. In recent years, the troupe has been able to add more events to its repertoire. Senior Lisa Woodruff, senior Lauren Aman and junior Andrea Diluglio – the Knightline captains – attribute this attention to the rise in members over the past two years.
"Last year we got double the amount of girls, and I think with that, more people have been talking about us on campus," Diluglio said. "There [are] more girls getting their friends to go to games, so more people are actually seeing and noticing us."
The team has danced at other events including the annual pep rally, the fundraiser for Haiti and the Ultra Violet campaign for Sigma Kappa. The group is hoping to perform at the Relay for Life this spring, and Orchesis has invited the squad to perform as a guest at some recitals.
The group defines itself as a modern jazz dance group, just one way in which it is different from the School of the Arts Dance Ensemble. "When we perform, it's [in] an informal setting, and it's only one dance. It's less like a recital," Woodruff said.
The girls learn two routines per academic year, both of which are large and quite involved. "One is for basketball, and one is for lacrosse," Woodruff said. "We have to change the routine for lacrosse, because we're on the grass."
Knightline is independent of the SOTA and receives no school funding. "[Because] we're not funded, we have to come up with all [of] our money on our own," Aman said. She said that extra fundraising will be necessary this year so that the team can buy track jackets.
"[The money is] not all for us, though," Aman said. "We made a dodgeball team for Colleges Against Cancer, and it costs money to register, and we didn't dance at it, but we donated money to The Ghana Project."
Though performances are casual, Knightline is not for amateurs. According to Woodruff, "members have usually been dancing for about 10 years: dancing all the way through school either at a studio or on a high school dance team."
"Because most of our routines involve advanced jumps and spins," Aman explained, "[dancers] need to have a technical base. We give all the girls a thorough warm-up to prevent injuries, and we watch everyone's improvement from week to week."
Knightline allows these experienced dancers to continue their passions while earning their degrees.
"I like to think we keep the energy up between the two halves of basketball and lacrosse games," Diluglio said. "We're having fun doing it, and hopefully they're having fun watching us."