Style, grace, class, and sass are all qualities strong among members of American International College’s dance team, the Queen Bees.

The Queen Bees have been a big surprise and have taken AIC by storm, being the only dance team in years to have actually remained and even grown. Year by year they broaden their fan base, generate a bigger team, and increase their performance demands.

It all started with a dance competition called “Shimmy Like a Nupe.”

A former AIC student, Xsandria Hill, recruited students to preform in a fraternity dance competition. Khadijah Brown, Ginger Solomon, and myself joined her inside that Rhode Island competition.

They came in third place and their love of dance brought them closer together. Seeing how easy it was for them to place in a competition, they discussed for an entire semester how serious they were to start a dance team, and Solomon made it happen.

The dance team originated in September of 2015. Solomon was then an orientation leader the summer of 2015, requiring her to stay at school for most of the summer. She decided to use any free time she had to speak to the student engagement board on how she could start the dance team.

“They gave me the run around for about a month straight. It was always ‘fill out this paper work, or fill out that’ and it felt like they really didn’t have faith in me or the dance team,” said Solomon, who is now President. “I finally finished all the paper work to go forward.”

After getting the paperwork finalized and holding tryouts, the team preformed at the fall 2015 pep rally, and after that, they became an AIC entertainment icon.

They were offered to preform at various events, one after the other.

Choreographer Kiana Robinson recalled, “we were invited to preform at so many events we eventually had to start saying no.”

They preformed at the Miss Black and Gold pageant, Alpha Apollo, basketball, and football games all in their first year of coming out. Robinson was in for a tough challenge having to create brand new original dances for each performance.

“Sometimes I feel like my mind just wonders on dance. I could be talking to you and just hear a beat in my head out of no where and just create the moves in my brain,” Robinson said.

Her training sessions are serious and focused.

“I enforce them to give me five jumping jacks for saying the word can’t. There is no can’t on this team, just practice,” said Robinson. “If it’s something serious that they cannot do then we accommodate them.”

Members are organized, making sure they preform at all the event agreed to and always participate in community service to give back.

The also have an outstanding e-board where all do their jobs, including Solomon as the President, myself as Vice President, Robinson as the Choreographer, and Xena Borrero, the new treasurer who replaced the graduating Brown.

Ever since the team started they’ve been expanding in size.

When the Queen Bees first debuted, there were only about five dedicated girls, with four of them on the e-board. Now, there is a team full of 11 dedicated dancers, excluding the e-board.

The Queen Bees currently have an annual dance show case every April, going on three years now. It is held in the Griswold Theater and this showcase is all their own.

It mainly focuses on the AIC dance team but they also open it up to surrounding schools to come showcase their talent as well. The UMass step team, Southern Connecticut University and Eastern Connecticut University dance teams are among those who also performed with them in the show of spring 2016.

Besides the showcase, anyone can catch the Queen Bees preforming for the upcoming Homecoming, the pep rally and home football games for the fall of 2017.

These girls have worked so hard, they are definitely worth seeing.