SLAM supports Andover Basketball teams with stomping, clapping, and cheering.
The Spirit Leaders of Andover Madness (SLAM) dance group is a Winter Term life sport that has been around for over 30 years. Founded by Phillips Academy alumni Ashanti (Hosier) Brinson ’95 and Angela Brown ’96, the group supports the Boys and Girls Basketball teams and also performs at the annual Andover Dance Festival. The team is led by captains Maya Clark ’26, Samaria Hammond ’25, and Wambui Nyiha ’25, who have helped create a positive and uplifting environment for dancers.
Yumi Lai ’27 gave an overview of the group and their involvement in basketball games, noting the dancers’ audible performances as a hallmark of their style.
Lai said, “We perform a dance style that uses our bodies to create forms and sounds. That includes stomping, clapping and using our voice. We perform at basketball games for both boys varsity and girls varsity. Supporting our basketball teams is really important. We love being there and getting to watch the game on the court…we feel very involved.”
Lai continued, highlighting how the dance group is a source of joy for its members, particularly during the dreary winter months. The sport has evolved for its members into what they lovingly refer to as their “SLAMily.”
“The environment of our group is always so uplifting, especially during the wintertime, when it’s gloomy. Coming to our dance practices after school every day just makes everyone so much happier and is honestly just amazing. If someone has a bad day, we always share how we feel and are just there for each other. It doesn’t even feel like a sport that we have to go to every day. Instead, we’re just always looking forward to coming to practice to make these connections, which is why we always call each other our SLAMily, which extends beyond just our practices,” said Lai.
Maya Clark ’26, one of the three SLAM captains, explained the practice format and how it varies depending on upcoming games. She also noted how the team’s technical abilities allow for the group to cover multiple routines in each practice.
Clark said, “We usually practice for about an hour and a half every day of the week. Typically, we start with a stretch. Our stretch is around 15 to 20 minutes. On Mondays, we start with a check-in, where we sit in a circle and say how we’re doing to check-in. After that, we usually get right into it. We teach depending on how long the steps are, but we’ll probably teach one or two new steps a day. Our team is really good. They’re technical, so they pick it up fast. If we’re working on a longer halftime [show], we might focus all our time on that. It does depend on the day.”
The group adapts their steps to match what is occurring on the court. Ashiq Kibria ’26 noted that despite the various step routines for offense and defense, the group’s goal is the same: to encourage the team and engage the crowd.
“The team does different steps based on what’s happening in the game, so depending on whether the team is on offense or defense, they do different steps. There’s one step that asks for offense specifically. The steps are used to bring support to and cheer the team on. During timeouts, they’re used to encourage the crowd as well. The team helps boost the team’s morale and get the crowd into the game. They’re similar to the way that Blue Key Heads work as they’re able to support all the basketball teams by showing up to the games and hyping up the crowd,” said Kibria.
The group is also a staple at the yearly Andover Dance Festival. During this year’s festival, the team performed the song “Sticky” by Tyler the Creator. Lai spoke about the event and highlighted the captain’s role in producing the performance.
“We performed to the song “Sticky.” I love how our choreographers, the captains, make these steps. Hearing the songs together emphasizes the beats of the music, and it’s so fun when it all comes together because you hear this group of 15 people all synchronized. It’s a unique dance form that you don’t see often,” said Lai.
Clark continued in the same vein, highlighting the captain’s choreography. She also mentioned that the group performed Beyonce’s Homecoming songs to commemorate the seniors on the team.
“We did like a little hip hop part beforehand [before “Sticky”] and then we went right into normal step. We choreographed it ourselves and we did about a two-minute long performance. People really liked it. Then we did a mash up with Beyoncé’s Homecoming song, and for that part that was mostly like a senior focused part of the show, as we try to showcase our seniors towards the end of the season.”
SLAM has one more performance for the season, performing at the Girls Basketball’s game against Holderness on February 26.
