The Riptide Dance Crew aims to provide a club that celebrates differences and gives students a space to express themselves through hip-hop dancing. After completing auditions at the beginning of the fall semester, the 24-member team has started to practice for its upcoming events in the semester.
“You could tell that everyone still has that love for dance,” said Rachel Gibbs, a senior majoring in criminal justice and the president of Riptide. “We all grew up dancing. You could really tell through the kids’ [the dancers] eyes that when we get to perform, they get so excited, because it’s just something we don’t get to do often.”
Gibbs said with dance being a high-energy sport, the effort that goes into the practice is what keeps the excitement going.
“We definitely have a very special group of people. I could tell that they were having a lot of fun, and that’s all we want to see,” said Jayda Campbell-McGinnis, the vice president for Riptide. “I could definitely tell that they were nervous, but we just kept telling them, this isn’t like the Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders. It’s not like that.”
Campbell-McGinnis said the main goal of Riptide is to exclude the reputation of toxic dance environments and social pressures and keep dancing strictly positive.
“I feel like a lot of it [dance] is that you have to be super slim and super skinny, and that is very toxic,” said Ella Murphy, a junior majoring in international studies. “There are a lot of comparisons in the dance world, but having a club that’s based on just being fun and expressing yourself makes all of that go away.”
The crew’s dance events are held periodically throughout the semester. One event will be at the Capstone Wellness Explorer event on Sept. 26 hosted by SGA, and there will also be a dance lesson with Bama Dining.
Gibbs said the crew will take all the opportunities they can get.
“It’s a great way to show everyone what we’ve been working on throughout the year,” Gibbs said. “It’s just another opportunity to get to dance and do what we love.”
