The Siena College Step Team, also known as S.O.L.I.D, has made quite the impression on campus since their stellar performance at Siena Madness last semester. Their unique technique and style has made this club one of the most talked about and anticipated organizations at Siena. I decided to sit down with one of its newest members Jaime Marchetti who you may have seen twerking stage with B.O.B at Siena Fest last spring!
Jaime Marchetti
Class year: 2017
Hometown: North Reading, Massachussetts
Major: Biology
Favorite artist/band: Fall Out Boy
Favorite Movie: 10 Things I Hate About You
Favorite Food: Lasagna
Favorite Genre of Music: Hip-Hop
HC: How long have you been dancing and where did the passion for it start?
Jaime: I started when I was 3 years old and I danced at two studios back at home but I’ve been dancing with the same dance teacher my entire life. She is the one who instilled that passion in me because she saw potential that other people didn’t and she brought it out in me. My sisters also danced so it was kind of like this whole family element.
HC: What is your favorite style of dance?
Jaime: I’ve done everything to be honest my favorite is hip-hop or ballet, which are polar opposites!
HC: The one thing that really made people start talking about this organization is your teams killer performance at Siena Madness this year. What was it like performing at Siena Madness and getting that overwhelming positive reaction from the student body?
Jaime: To be honest, I was really nervous. I have not performed in front of a crowd like that since I was on the dance team last year. We put the masks on to make sure we had our game faces on and to make sure we were all focused and serious about nailing all the moves. When we were done dancing and we took our masks off and everyone started screaming I just thought “Wow, we must have done really good!”.
HC: Is it a difficult process to learn the routines that come with Step? Is it like anything you have done before?
Jaime: This is pretty much a whole new experience for me. I have danced for so long and I have always had to work on it. Step reminds me a lot about tap. There is so much focus when tap dancing on getting our feet to sound the same, it can be a huge process. But with step its even bigger because we not only have to all sound the same we all have to look the same. Our movements all need to look like one. Each dancer can have their own flavor but it needs to be minimized so we can all look like one person and sound like one person. Its hard but we all want to be the best we can be and be challenged and that’s exactly what Step does.
HC: Is step something that everyone can learn or do you have to have some dance experience?
Jaime: I think that if you have a passion for it and the ability to hold a beat you can do it. There are a lot of people on the team who have never danced before. One of our captains, who is also captain of the volleyball team, has never danced before and she is one of our leaders so it just goes to show that everyone can do it. Everyone on our team is different and comes from different backgrounds and that’s so cool.
HC: Are there auditions coming up for people interested in joining?
Jaime: I believe we have auditions in the beginning of every semester. One thing we are looking for are guy dancers. We used to be an all girls team and we are trying to take advantage of the fact that male dancers add a great dynamic to the team.