Freshman Danni Keene is a dancer at CMU. She spends some of her weekends traveling to Denver for the Denver Nuggets Dancers camps and plans to try out for the team this summer. This is the first person from CMU’s dance team to try out for the Denver Nuggets which is a milestone for the team. This is an opportunity earned through years of dedication and hard work from Keene.

While at CMU, she balances her pursuit of a degree in exercise science with a minor in sports management with being a member of the dance team. Keene is eighteen years old and said she has been a dancer since she was nine and started off as a gymnast. Keene and her mother quickly realized she was meant for dance.

She said trying out for the Denver Nuggets Dancers is no easy feat but accepts the challenges that come with it. Keene dedicates time to travel to Denver regularly, sacrifices time with friends and and prioritizes studying. Keene struggled to fit in with the other athletes at the camp since she is one of the youngest attendees for these camps.

“Making friends has been a super scary thing, especially because a lot of these girls are like 20 or 23 years old, and I’m like, I feel like a baby out here,” Keene said.

However, Keene is no stranger to challenges, as she has already several accomplishments under her belt. She took seventh at worlds, won Teen Miss Dance, was part of the 2023 Kick Champions and is ranked nationally through The National Dance Alliance. 

She said that that the experience “has been like a dream for a little while, but I just started taking it seriously pretty recently.”

“My main focus growing up was jazz, and then I also did a lot of pom throughout high school,” Keene said. 

This experience strengthened her skills and versatility as a dancer and equipped her with the skills and experience to help her perform at the collegiate level. In college, she honed her skills and took her passion to the next level. 

During the training camps, she will be learning the choreography and dances needed for tryouts. She has to learn basic skill dances and go through media training to help make her a suitable candidate for the squad. The audition is a month-long process.

“Definitely going to be a hard balance if that’s the way it works out,” Keene said.

Her journey as a student will be impacted if she makes the team. If she does, she will move to online school. This possibility could be life-changing and offer a new path forward in life.

As a Grand Junction native, she felt drawn towards CMU because it was close to her home. Her favorite part about being on the team is the community and support.

“CMU has a really nice gameday team,” Keene said. “They’ve become honestly my best friends.”

Everything she has done as a dancer has led her to this moment in her life, but there is still much she needs to learn to make the squad. However, as far as routines go, she said the routines she learned in tryout align with her role on the dance team. 

“The Nuggets are a little bit more centralized on entertainment and performance, whereas the dance team here is more about cleanliness and making sure everyone looks the same,” Keene said.

As a member, Keene would be expected to participate in community service projects and assist with a junior dance program. With the Nuggets, she would also get a chance to be featured on national television during games.

While her story as an athlete has been full of success, she said she would not be able to do it without the support of her friends and family. Her mom helped keep her committed to dance and ultimately shaped her passion for the art. There were times she wanted to quit, but she shared that her mom has “just been a huge inspiration to keep going and pushing.”