Miami Tabs Stephanie Rogers as Dance Team Coach
7/16/2009 12:00:00 AM | Dance
July 16, 2009
OXFORD, Ohio - Miami University Athletics has named Stephanie Rogers its dance team head coach, as she brings eight years of coaching, teaching and choreographing experience to the RedHawks Dance Team. Rogers officially begins her position Aug. 1, but has already began preparations for the team’s trip to the National Dance Alliance (NDA) Summer Camp in Louisville, Ky. later this summer.
“Stephanie’s experience and passion for dance should propel our program and student-athletes to the next level in competition and development, while simultaneously creating an added dimension to the Miami game day experience,” states Anthony J. Azama, Miami’s director of marketing.
Rogers, a native of nearby West Chester, Ohio and a Lakota East High graduate, has worked with and coached dancers at the middle school, high school and college levels, including serving as an assistant coach here at Miami during the 2005-06 school year. She is nearing completion of her master’s degree in sports studies at Miami with a concentration in sport performance and behavior.
“I'm very excited to be the new head coach of the Miami Dance Team,” Rogers said. “I've been in the dance industry for a while now and coaching a college dance team has always been a dream of mine, especially working with a team as talented as Miami. After talking to the team, I'm sure we can take the Miami Dance Team to the next level this year.”
Rogers joins the Miami staff after serving as the director, coach and choreographer of the Energy Dance All-Star Teams based in West Chester since 2008. In addition to her year with Miami, she has also coached dance teams for Lakota Plains Middle School (West Chester), Seton High School (Cincinnati) and South Oldham Middle and High Schools (Oldham, Ky.) over the past seven years.
Along with the middle and high schools Rogers coached at, she has choreographed routines for Miami in 2005 and 2008, Wright State University this year, and her alma mater, Louisville, from 2001-2005, while competing on the team. She has also taught dance at various camps and studios in Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana over the last eight years, including at Xavier University’s Dance Team Technique Camp from 2007-2008.
Rogers has worked with one of the top choreographers in the country in LaVelle Smith. Rogers served as a dance assistant for Smith, who has choreographed dances for Beyonce and Michael Jackson during his career, at his workshops in Chicago and Louisville from 2003-2005. She has been involved with the Universal Dance Association (UDA) during her career as well, having been an instructor at its Midwest region summer camps from 2001-2003 and judge at UDA Midwest regional competitions from 2003-2008.
Twice a National Dance Alliance All-America Collegiate Dancer while at Louisville, Rogers competed on Louisville’s Ladybirds Dance Team from 2001-2005 and helped lead the squad to three Division IA Collegiate Dance National Championships. She earned her bachelor’s degree in human and health performance in 2005 from Louisville.
The Miami Dance Team is coming off a seventh-place finish at the NDA Nationals last year and a runner-up finish at the 2008 NDA Summer Camp. The team has earned a full-paid bid to NDA Nationals each of the last five years and will go for a sixth straight at this year’s NDA Summer Camp under the guidance of Rogers.
--MURedHawks.com--