Chelsea Zhao
Staff Writer
The Athletics Department announces the addition of a stunt team even as DU Starlettes struggle to be recognized as a dance team on campus and support its dancers.
The DU Starlettes are the university dance team made up of 11 female members. Before the pandemic, the Starlettes performed monthly at half-times for men’s and women’s basketball games.
On Jan. 31, DU Athletics released a notice for a new stunt team as DU’s 13th sponsored varsity sport for fall 2023. The online release also notes that a search for a full-time coach is in effect. Stunt features athletic and technical parts of cheerleading and only has collegiate programs in one other school in Illinois.
The addition of the stunt sports team was never communicated to the Starlettes, the existing dance team for Dominican.
“For me personally, I felt it was kind of a slap in the face,” Starlettes Junior Captain Carlotta Ferri said.
“We work really hard: We practice, we perform at events. And people really like our dances,” Starlette Senior Captain Lauren Robinson said. “It just hurts that Dominican didn’t tell us that they’re going to replace us.”
According to Ferri, members do not receive funding from the university and had to pay out-of-pocket to see the trainer. If any members were to get hurt, the liability would fall entirely on the team.
“Being able to see the trainer is just step one, I want the girls to feel safe and comfortable when they’re in the studio dancing,” Robinson said.
The Starlettes receive funding from the $100 annual membership fee each dancer pays out-of-pocket and their end-of-the-year fundraising. The funding goes toward the cost of costumes, jackets, and team apparel. However, since the pandemic, the Starlettes were not able to hold any fundraisers.
“I have been going to Dominican for four years now, and the school has never really acknowledged us,” Robinson said. “The school has always swept the things we needed under the rug.”
According to Norah Collins Pienta, dean of students, Starlettes Dance Team falls under the student organization category and receives funding through Student Government Association. She said neither Starlettes nor the added Stunts team fits cheerleading from her understanding.
“So the way I understand and how I interpret is that the dance team is not cheerleading, that the Starlettes are a dance team, they are not a cheer team,” Pienta said. “And that stunts is different than cheerleading as well. So they are very different and neither of them are cheerleading.”
According to Barrington Price, vice president of Student Success and Engagement, the ideation for the Stunts Team came from a team decision that included input from President’s Cabinet, planning and budget committee and two student representatives.
Price said he sees the new stunts team as a way to celebrate equity in sports.
“As an institution, we not only have to celebrate sports that are dedicated to women, we have to create opportunities for women competition in a collegiate setting,” Price said. “This came from some thoughtfulness and ideation and I’m very excited about it, because it really focuses and balances our Title IX within athletics and is a new emerging sport in the NCAA.”
According to Robinson, the Starlettes practice 6-8 hours per week for the fall season and 16-20 hours per week in the spring. Cate Koziol, a lifelong dancer, former Starlettes member and graduate of the class of 2017, is the Starlette unpaid volunteer coach. However, since last Sunday Koziol has quit due to personal reasons.
The Starlettes team performs regularly for various on-campus events and has won multiple awards from the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference Dance Competition in 2015, 2016 and 2018. Nevertheless, according to the team still has to seek approval from Mark White, associate director of athletics/head men’s basketball coach, before each performance at the basketball games, according to Robinson and Ferri.
According to Pienta, the new stunts team will bring additional interests from prospective students.
“I think from an enrollment perspective we are always looking at what are the possibilities to recruit other students to the university,” Pienta said. “There are things that aren’t seen as an option because we don’t offer something, that could be an academic program, that could be a team, that could be, you know, a whole host of things. I would say from a strategic planning and an enrollment perspective, that’s a part of it. I think kind of keeping a pulse on the landscape of the athletic climate within the conference and what’s happening with NCAA also is a part of that.”
Robinson said the Starlettes have tried to be recognized as a sport by the university, but the team continues to be considered a club on campus.
“Every year we get the athletic surveys, and they always ask what’s another sport you would like to see, and I put dance every year, but they never reached out to me regarding that,” Ferri said.
Price said that he sees DU’s addition of the stunts team reflects a national importance on the needed recognition for female athletes.
“Sports have been part of my life, my entire life, but creating equity access to women student athletes is something that all sports departments and all universities have to be mindful of and think about,” Price said. “I think this is a really meaningful way to do that. And we also want to encourage students that have, you know, ideas about other clubs or emerging sports, to talk to our athletic director about some of these opportunities.”
The Athletic Department has refused the Star’s request to speak on the record about the Starlettes.
