Trojan Dance Force

“5, 6, 7, 8 … Hit! Hit!”

Music and voices echoed throughout the second story gym of the Physical Education building early Sunday morning as 14 girls put the finishing touches on a routine that’s been four months in the making.

But for Alexis Spenchian, a senior, and Melissa Bulnes, a senior, these two Trojan Dance Force four-year members have waited for this moment ever since they came to USC.

“It’s a totally different view coming at it as captain,” Spenchian explained. “It’s less about me and more about motivating the team and making sure that everyone’s ready as opposed to just feeling comfortable myself.”

And she does just that.

Along with the Dance Force coach, Mina Ortega, Spenchian helped critique every arch, every step, every leap, every detail until they were all perfected.

Everything had to be bigger, better and stronger.

Yet looking at the final performance showed none of the strain and exhaustion members of the Trojan Dance Force endured.

The routine was effortless and flawless, as if these girls decided to meet one day and dance, although most of them have been dancing since they could walk.

This year, more than half of the girls on Trojan Dance Force are freshmen and sophomores.

“But the veterans are the heart of this team,” Coach Ortega said. “We aren’t this 40-year tradition. We’re this up-and-coming tradition with a big heart.”

Trojan Dance Force started practicing for basketball season in August and hired choreographer Karl Mundt in November to create a routine that would wow basketball fans at halftime and competition judges at crunch time.

“Dance Force is coming with a whole different style,” Coach Ortega said, beaming like a proud mother as she talked about her team.

“Typically we come out with more of a hard-hitting, straight-armed movement, but this time around I just wanted to come out with a completely different style. I wanted a more stylized dance as opposed to a longer basketball routine.”

Coach Ortega even changed the look of the uniforms and music from more hip-hop to jazz numbers.

But don’t think the team has gone soft or lost that competitive edge. Trojan Dance Force has proven to be explosive and intense competitors.

During its regular season, Trojan Dance Force members dance four days a week for two and a half hours each session, perfecting technique, learning and reviewing routines and adding some “fierce factor.”

But with a little more than a week to go before the national competition, they stepped up practices and held them almost everyday.

“It takes a huge amount of commitment and dedication and hard work,” Spenchian said, with a determined gleam in her eyes.

“But our team is fully charged, and everyone puts in 150 percent all the time. We pride ourselves on hitting it hard.”

Spenchian should know about commitment and hard work.

Dancing since she was five, Spenchian’s talent spans the gamut from ballet and tap to jazz and hip-hop.

Though Spenchian was a studio dancer in high school, she joined Trojan Dance Force when she came to USC, the same year her older sister was captain of the squad.

“It’s kind of like our family legacy,” she joked.

On average, the girls learn about 15 to 20 new routines each season— not including ones they learn for basketball playoffs— so that they mix up which three routines the team performs at each home basketball game halftime show.

This is on top of performing an average of two basketball games a week, along with their strenuous practice schedule.

Additionally, the Trojan Dance Force performed at orientation, Explore USC, Songfest, at a Nintendo launch party and in Will Ferrell’s new movie, “Semi-Pro” at a UCLA basketball game.

But February 10 and 11 were intended to be the piece de resistance of a near-perfect season.

All 14 members headed to Las Vegas for the U.S. National Collegiate Dance Competition, hoping to recapture the first-place win they had in 2004.

“We’re in it to win it, as cheesy as that sounds, it’s true,” Spenchian said before heading off for Las Vegas.

Unfortunately, the Trojan Dance Force came up short in this competition, placing 7 out of 10 teams.

Still, “we were really happy with how we did at the competition and what we brought to the table,” said Bulnes in a phone interview. “There’s been no disappointments for me this year. My life has revolved around Dance Force even though I’m involved in other things on campus. When I look back on my time at USC, it’s going to be looking back to my time dancing on Dance Force.”

And Spechian agrees. “[Trojan Dance Force] has actually defined my experience. I can’t imagine my experience [at USC] without it.”

Coach Ortega held out hope for next year.

“I would never want the work ethic to change, but I would definitely want to see the style continue to evolve,” Coach Ortega said.

“I want us to become the Laker Girls of college basketball. I want to push the envelope a little as far as costuming and technique.”

As far as she’s concerned, the best has yet to come.