Over the previous decade, collegiate dance has exploded in reputation with competitions like UDA and NDA Nationals breaking into mainstream popular culture and gaining attention on social media. Faculty dance groups have gotten more and more aggressive, with steep technical necessities and a prerequisite of standout showmanship.
But regardless of this progress, dance groups typically lack assets in terms of recruitment. Many school coaches pay for recruitment bills, like journey and lodging, out of pocket. Carsen Rowe, founder and CEO of TRIBE 99, sought an answer by connecting aspiring collegiate dancers and coaches by way of a single nationwide recruiting occasion. Now approaching its tenth anniversary, TRIBE 99’s THE DANCE COMBINE has turn out to be a fixture of the school dance scene.
Dance Spirit spoke with Rowe about creating TRIBE 99, the world of collegiate dance, and how you can get recruited.
Getting the Ball Rolling
The daughter of a dance studio proprietor, Rowe grew up in Richland, Washington, steeped in dance group tradition. She skilled and competed with an all-star dance team all through her childhood, and by 16 had begun choreographing for different native groups. By 18, she was working with nationally ranked groups at the highschool and school ranges. Rowe took these abilities together with her to the College of Cincinnati, the place, as a member of the dance group, she created dances for video games and competitions.
In Might 2016, whereas persevering with to choreograph and train for faculty dance groups, Rowe started TRIBE 99 as a choreography firm, which shortly grew into an company. She’d observed a shift in school dance—away from auditions and towards a recruitment mannequin—beginning with the nation’s high packages. In 2017, TRIBE 99 held its first recruitment occasion. There was no blueprint for its mannequin; measurements in school sports activities (factors, scores, yards) typically don’t translate to bop. So Rowe carved out an area for herself, gathering enter from school coaches and adapting as wanted. “It’s terrifying, but additionally thrilling, that I don’t have a path to observe,” she says.
Since then, TRIBE 99’s presence in school dance has ballooned, with a whole lot of dancers attending the flagship THE DANCE COMBINE in Dallas, Texas, and regional COMBINEs, yearly. A lot of the current UDA Nationals–profitable groups now embody former COMBINE attendees, and Rowe says that the 2024 occasion granted roughly $827,000 in scholarships and awards. “It’s loopy to look at these dancers get the popularity that they don’t get anyplace and stroll away with subsequent alternatives of their lives,” she says.
Contained in the DANCE COMBINE
Rowe designed the COMBINE to provide highschool dancers most publicity to collegiate dance group coaches over the course of 1 weekend. Attendees take grasp lessons, carry out mixtures for coaches, meet with head coaches or program scouts, and community with present group members. Dancers additionally obtain a TRIBE 99 COMBINE rating, a measurable knowledge level indicating the place they stand of their recruitment class.
Rayna Reid, an incoming College of Minnesota first-year and rookie dance group member, says that attending the occasion and assembly fellow dancers impressed her to work more durable towards her aim of creating a group. “It pushed me to imagine that I can succeed within the school dance world,” she says.
Savannah Vigevani, a second-year kinesiology main and dance group member at Texas Tech College, appreciates how the COMBINE confirmed her how she stacked up in opposition to different recruits. “Being in a room full of individuals the place everyone seems to be gifted actually helped me self-assess,” she says. Vigevani provides that analyzing her COMBINE rating helped her perceive the place to enhance. “I used to be the number-one dancer for jazz, however for hip hop you noticed me so much decrease.” Vigevani spent the months after coaching in hip hop and different types to turn out to be a higher-profile recruit.
Rowe additionally prioritizes creating alternatives for dancers at each ability stage. “Each child that attends our occasion can dance in school,” says Rowe. “It may not be the college that they suppose it will likely be. However there are alternatives.” Reid says the COMBINE allowed her to completely think about her choices. “If Minnesota wasn’t my path, I obtained to satisfy all of those different coaches,” she says.
Recommendation for Excessive Faculty Dancers
Rowe stresses that prime college dancers hoping to land a spot on a school group ought to, together with creating wonderful approach, refine their motion high quality and develop their versatility. She suggests coaching in as many various types as attainable: “To be a top-level collegiate dancer, you need to be extraordinarily versatile,” she says.
Rowe provides that dance group hopefuls ought to develop their communication abilities, like talking with confidence, making eye contact, and having the ability to maintain a dialog. “It’s exhausting to seek out the children that may come up and be super-confident, and be themselves,” she says. Vigevani says that persevering with to construct connections with coaches after in-person occasions makes a giant distinction within the recruitment course of. “Maintaining along with your communication and displaying these school coaches that you simply’re is essential.”
What’s Subsequent for TRIBE 99?
Wanting ahead, Rowe desires to proceed maximizing alternatives for highschool dancers and legitimizing the school dance group recruitment house. She plans to make use of experimentation and adaptation to her benefit as TRIBE 99 continues to develop. “It’s a transferring goal,” she says, “and that’s what retains it thrilling.”
