Image Courtesy of Ari Puglisi, President of Pom Team
Pom Team is one of the many dance teams here at Dean College. Ari Puglisi, President of Pom Team, met with The Dean Daily to discuss the team and what’s up and coming for them.
“I am a senior dance BFA major with a concentration in performance,” said Puglisi. “I’ve done three years on Pom Team. I’m in Loose Screws, and I’m Vice President of finance in SGA. Pom Team is one of the six audition teams at Dean. It has precision-based jazz with pom, and we’re the only dance team that competes at a national collegiate level at Dean.”
When choosing what school she wanted to go to, Puglisi said Dean’s Pom Team made a good impression on her.
“I was well aware of Dean’s Pom Team,” said Puglisi. “I stuck with what I knew freshman year, which was tap. I quickly fell in love with the Pom Team once I joined. A lot of freshmen this year say they came here for our Pom Team.”
Pom Team has won many awards, and they aren’t done yet.
“We are currently ranked 3rd in Pom and 2nd in Jazz in the region. We have yet to go to nationals because we haven’t had the opportunity, but it is in January,” said Puglisi. “Hopefully we get the opportunity to go and win more awards.”
Is Pom a sport?
“I think Pom should be considered a sport when it competes, said Puglisi. “It is an art, but it can be put in a competition style where we train similar to athletes. It can be physically, emotionally, and spiritually draining. We represent the school just like any other athlete at Dean.”
The countdown to nationals begins.
“Nationals is in Orlando, Florida January 14-16,” said Puglisi. “Universal Dance Association houses over three dozen colleges and universities at its competition. There are a few divisions like any other sport, based on the size of the college, D1-D3. We have fundraised over $6,000 on our own because we don’t get fundraising through the athletic department. We put a request to SGA which provided additional funding. Members will also contribute their own funding.”
The alumni of Pom Team have gone on to do some amazing things.
“From every year since the Pom Team has started, we have had someone become a Patriots cheerleader,” said Puglisi. “There have also been Celtics dancers, studio owners, and performers of concert-types.”
Looking to see Pom Team in action? Here’s where you’ll find them:
“We perform at Dean’s basketball games and have a competition in February after Florida in January,” said Puglisi.
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