COLUMBIA, S.C. — If you’ve been at the home football games cheering on the University of South Carolina (USC) Gamecocks, you might have noticed something different during halftime this season.
For the first time in the team’s history, the dance team has a male dancer.
USC students say the team's new addition is something they're excited about.
“I honestly love him,” sophomore Gabby Shupard said about Jordyn Gary. “I think he, like, brings up the energy of the team, and he’s such a good dancer.”
“I mean, I'm not really involved with the whole dance world or anything, but I guess it's good that they got, like, a dude is now on the dance team is, like, pretty exciting, I’m assuming,” freshman Joshua Small adds.
“It's just like your eyes just go right towards him in the routines,” sophomore cheerleader Aden Vinnacombe said. “He can do these incredible tricks and flips.”
Jordyn Gary is a sophomore nursing student at USC and a member of the Carolina Dance Team.
“It was just, like, really cool being down on the field and dancing in front of everybody,” Gary said, smiling as he explained his favorite part of being on the team so far.
Gary said he’s been dancing for nine years, getting trained in all styles but finding a particular passion for jazz and contemporary dance.
“My older brother was actually a dancer, so I followed in his footsteps, and then he realized that I was better than him,” Gary said, laughing. “So he quit, but I kept going.”
A Lexington native, Gary participated in USC dance clinics and got to know head coach Lindsay Sprague.
“I just reached out and asked her if I can try out, and she said, 'Yes.' And now I’m here,” Gary said with a shrug.
In the program’s 17-year history, Gary is the first male dancer to join the team, Sprague says.
“If people are familiar with our program, they might have realized that we had a little bit of a rebrand this year. When our team was started in 2007, the original team name was the Carolina Girls. Obviously, not the most inclusive name when you're thinking of male dancers who might want to join the program,” Sprague said. “But at that point, no one had ever - a male dancer had never seriously pursued a spot on the team until Jordyn came along a couple years ago. And so we knew that a little rebrand would have to happen for him just to make it more inclusive and make him comfortable. But it's been a pretty smooth - smooth transition - and we’ve had a ton of support from administration along that process.”
Gary is paving the way, working with Sprague along the way to adapt the routines and uniforms in a way that lends to a co-ed team.
“He's done a really, really good job adapting and making it his own and kind of creating the space for, hopefully, future male dancers down the road,” Sprague said. “We’ve actually already had other male dancers come to our camps and clinics this season. And that is 100% because of the door that Jordyn has opened for them. He's incredibly talented, but he is also just kind of a trailblazer in this setting because, while this has happened for other teams - you're seeing a lot more male dancers in collegiate and even professional dance teams all across the country - we haven't had that here yet. So, he's just setting a new trend.”
“It just feels really good to know that I'm inspiring other dancers. And there's been a lot of male dancers that are reaching out to try out for the team, especially to our recruit committee. So, that's very exciting,” Gary said. “I think it's just important to have diversity everywhere you go, just to see a person that's, like, you in any type of situation. I think that really gives inspiration to other male dancers out there who even may be young or may be questioning themselves about trying to try out or maybe continuing their career in dance. And I just think that it's great to be a trailblazer in this community.”
When it comes to the team’s dynamic, Sprague said that the girls on the team are filling the same role they have in the past. She said Gary acts as a “hybrid” between a cheerleader and a dancer as he holds a megaphone during the sidelines and leads cheers. During the halftime performances, he joins the rest of the team to perform a choreographed dance routine.
“He's that much more of an asset to our team. Just adds another layer of things that we can do competitively,” Sprague said. “We're hopeful that it's going to add a little bit of an edge for us at competition as well.”
Catch Jordyn on the field at this weekend’s home game against Jacksonville State.