Vibe check: Carolina Vibe brings together different dance styles in its fall showcase

UNC’s Carolina Vibe Dance Team is bringing a variety of styles and songs to its fall showcase. The event is a celebration of Carolina Vibe’s diverse dance abilities and friendship as a group.

The fall showcase will be held on Nov. 22 at 8 p.m. in the Sonja Haynes Stone Center for Black Culture and History. Tickets for the event will cost $3 and can be purchased in the pit or at the door. 

Carolina Vibe’s performance will include 12 small group dances. Anna Mott, a UNC sophomore on the team, said the dances she is performing in cover a wide range of styles. 

“One is a lyrical style, another is a hip-hop routine that’s really fun and the last one is a darker, moody contemporary routine,” Mott said. 

Mott said lyrical and contemporary are many team members’ favorite styles, but they plan on expanding their repertoire to include tap dance in coming semesters.

Some unique aspects of Carolina Vibe are that it is student-led, all-female and the dancers choreograph their own routines. 

Mott said the student choreography is different from her experience in other dance groups on campus. 

“It’s a really good opportunity for students to get to choreograph, and it’s cool to share that with other people and promote students’ work,” Mott said. 

The group has been practicing for the fall showcase since early September. Lauren Mancini, vice president of choreography for Carolina Vibe, said she is impressed with the all the dancers’ hard work and improvement this semester. 

“Every year, we get awesome new girls, and they just keep getting better and better,” Mancini said.

Most of the teammates have been competitive dancers from a young age, although it is not a requirement to be on the team. 

“We’ve been dancing at a studio our whole lives, so we wanted to keep that going without a huge time commitment,” Mancini said.

Emma Wolitzky, a UNC junior on Carolina Vibe, said the team is much more relaxed than her high school competitive dance experience. 

“In high school, I was in dance classes every night of the week, and we had specific classes we had to take,” Wolitzky said. “I did ballet three times a week and a technique class once a week, but with Carolina Vibe, it’s much more fun and low-stress because we get to do more of what we want.” 

Their practices are at 10 p.m. on Mondays and Wednesdays. While the practice time may be unconventional, Mott enjoys the late practices. 

“It’s a good brain break from schoolwork,” Mott said. 

Since it's a smaller group than some dance teams on campus, Mancini said she enjoys the familial feeling between team members. The group enjoys bonding activities and plans various events throughout the semester. One such event is a group Thanksgiving dinner which they call “Vibesgiving.”

“It’s nice to do things where you can hang out and see each other in something besides sweatpants,” Mott said. 

Mott said these activities and social events translate to group chemistry while performing.

“Even coming in and being new this year, I feel very close to the girls,” Mott said. “You can really tell when dance groups are friends, you can see it with the way they interact on a stage.” 

One thing that unites the teammates is using dance as a way to alleviate the stress from schoolwork. 

“I think, especially at a school as tough as UNC, things can become so, so stressful,” Mott said. “It’s a good creative outlet and something to get you out of school mode.” 

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