The Northeastern University dance team, or NUDT, and club athletes graced the packed stands of the Cabot Center with their dancing skills in a “Dancing with the Stars”-inspired fundraiser Dec. 7, which featured minute-long routines that showcased the dance skills of the club athletes and their partners.
“Dancing with the Stars” is an ABC Network hit series where celebrities pair up with professional dancers to perform choreographed ballroom routines for a panel of renowned ballroom dancing experts. The NUDT-sponsored event drew inspiration from the series despite dance routines deviating from the classic ballroom dancing style in “Dancing with the Stars.”
“I have no previous experience dancing, and Olivia was super patient with me. She wrote things down and took a lot of time to help me get the steps down,” third-year civil engineering major Brent Donlon, a member of the men’s club hockey team, said of his partner Olivia Aragon. “She went above and beyond, and I think we are going to do really well tonight.”
Donlon and Aragon, a third-year architecture major, took home the trophy after receiving straight 10s from the judges and winning the audience’s votes, which were cast through a Google Form on the NUDT Instagram.
The judging panel consisted of three professionals from the dance industry who scored pairings based on performance, choreography, difficulty level, execution and teamwork. The panel consisted of the dance team’s assistant coach Kaci Toms, as well as the team’s head coach Nicole Vicino, a former NUDT dance captain and a former NBA dancer for the Boston Celtics. The third judge, Ariana Noe, had also danced for the Celtics and is a former dance major at the University of New Hampshire.
After watching the performances, audience members voted for their favorite pairing. The pairing with the most audience votes had a point added to the judge’s score.
Third-year business administration major Joy Li, an athlete on the women’s powerlifting team, and her dance partner, second-year computer engineering and computer science combined major Ashley Ruge, were the first runner-up duo. In third place were club swimmer TC Stephens, a fourth-year political science and philosophy combined major, and fourth-year behavioral neuroscience major Caia Rossi.
Both duos received straight 10s from the judging panel but lacked the majority of the audience vote.
Stephens attributed his “love for dance and the opportunity to learn new things” as his motivation for participating in this event.
Dancers and athletes alike remarked on the competition and the training process as a fun and unique experience. The dancers choreographed routines that featured techniques their athlete counterparts could execute well due to the skills they possess through their sport. First-year computer science major and NUDT dancer Anoushka Abroal, who was paired with second-year business administration and design combined major Amelia Fay, a cheerleader on the Northeastern cheer team, said, “[Fay] has great flexibility, and I wanted to play to her strengths while also challenging her.”
“We watch ‘Dancing with the Stars’ every Tuesday, so this was such a fun event idea,” said third-year bioengineering major Kiley York, who was in the audience. We have a friend competing, so we thought it was a combination.” York attended the event in support of friend Mia Chen, a third-year behavioral neuroscience major and a women’s club soccer athlete paired with second-year health science major and dancer Renee Rogers.
The $6 event fee aimed to fundraise for NUDT’s trip to Daytona, Florida, for the National Cheerleaders Association and National Dance Alliance Collegiate National Championship in April 2025. A portion of the money was also awarded to the men’s club hockey team after Donlon’s win on his team’s behalf.
“We thought it would be a fun idea because it unites the club sports community. We’re all athletes, and we love what we do,” Abroal said. “We wanted to build community while supporting our fundraising journey to nationals.”
NUDT will compete in the NDA Championship in Daytona, Florida, from April 13 to 15, 2025, where it placed fourth in the Division I Team Performance Finals last year.
