Remembering their old dance steps, alumni of Spirit Leaders of Andover Madness (SLAM) hit the court to perform a special routine before the Andover Varsity Basketball games on January 17 to celebrate SLAM’s 20th anniversary.
Over the weekend, former members of SLAM gathered to reconnect and reminisce about one of their most meaningful Andover experiences, in which they developed some of their closest friendships, according to Andover’s website. The SLAM alumni also met the members of the current team and collaborated with them on a new routine that they later performed at the basketball games.
Current Co-Captain Alejandra Uria ’15 said, “SLAM alumni stories get passed down every single year, and I’ve been hearing about SLAM alumni since my first year on the team. Being able to see them in the flesh and collaborate with them was almost like the experience of meeting a celebrity in a really fun and weird way.”
SLAM has been an Andover tradition since 1995, when Angela Brown ’96 and Ashanti Hosier ’95 decided to create a unique dance team on campus.
Unlike many high school cheerleading teams, SLAM combines traditional cheerleading step-dancing moves with complex rhythms and sounds created by a combination of hand claps and foot stomps in sideline performances.
“People’s memory of SLAM sticks with them, even beyond graduation. When the alumni returned to campus, I could see that stepping and SLAM particularly… continue to be important to them and holds significance in their lives. When we invited them to step with us, even though a lot of them hadn’t done that particular step in a really long time, they were all able to remember it after a little bit of practice. I could see how thoroughly happy they were to perform with us,” Uria added.
