For some (myself included) dancing can be a little bit of a challenge when the world is determined to get you down, but not for the Seminole Dance Force. The Seminole Dance Force at Florida State University has been known for showing off their dance moves with style. This week I had the opportunity to interview Remi Draney, a freshman at Florida State University who joined the team this fall.
Her Campus (HC): What dancing experience did you have before college?
Remi Draney (DR): I’ve been a dancer my entire life, I started when I was about two and a half or three and I danced in the studio for most of that. Then when I got to high school I did my school’s competitive dance team. We were nationally ranked so we always had lots of practices.
HC: How did you get on to the Seminole Dance team? Were you recruited or did you have to apply or audition?
DR: This year with coronavirus it was a little bit of a different audition process. We had to sign up, and then we were sent three videos of dance routines that we had to learn. Then we video recorded those routines in a studio and sent those back in and then judges evaluated us on those videos. We also had interview questions we had to answer.
HC: What part of the audition process were you most worried about?
DR: Normally in the audition process you see all the people you’re competing against, and so one thing that made me nervous was that I knew I had done the routines to the best of my ability in the video but I was worried about how good the other people I would be competing against would be. Because it was done in a video format we couldn’t see who we were competing against.
HC: How often does the team practice? What is your schedule like?
DR: Obviously this year is different so we have a Zoom practice every Wednesday, and on Thursdays, we have groups of 10 people practice in different places. Then on top of that, we have four workouts that we do every week. For the workouts we have a workout buddy that they assigned us, so we get to have fun with our workout buddy each week. We work out with the same person so we’re not spreading more germs and the 10 people are always the same as well each week.
HC: What do you find is most challenging about being on the team?
DR: Right now I’d say the most challenging thing is not being able to see the whole team at once. That’s the saddest thing too is not being able to have a normal experience. I can’t wait once all this gets better to be able to see everyone together.
HC: What is your favorite part about being on the team?
DR: Definitely being able to do what I love and what we are all passionate about with people that are so fun. Having a community to get to know and work hard with to better ourselves.
HC: You’ve been dancing for many years now, why do you keep doing it? What is your reason to dance?
DR: I just love dancing because it’s a different way to reach out to people. For me, it’s so easy to feel the music and feel good dancing and moving on stage. For some people, they don’t do well with communication through words, but if I can touch them in a different way, if I can reach them through the music or any movements I do, then it’s really cool to have that opportunity.
HC: What is your perspective as a freshman on joining the team at such an unprecedented time and what is your relationship like with the other girls?
DR: One reason I love this team so much is the older girls are so understanding. It’s been such a community of acceptance and just being able to take what we have and do our best with it. Being a rookie is super exciting because I have so many girls that I can look up to and learn from that have all been so accepting, it’s just amazing.
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