The essence of OU can be found in its student body, the sprawling campus and now in a new dance team.

Dwayne Cook, modern dance performance junior, created an organization for women who may not have technical dance training but want to express their passion for dance.

“This is a different type of dance,” said Jessica McClarty, public relations sophomore. “We are trying to bring more diversity to OU’s campus.”

The idea for Essence of Oklahoma Drill team stemmed from dance teams that are housed at historically black colleges.

The group is striving to become an OU sponsored dance team, said Brichette Reid, public relations sophomore.

If this is successful, she said, the team would be able to perform at sporting events along with the cheer and pom squad.

As a cheerleader and dancer, Cook said he saw a void on campus that could be filled with this opportunity.

“A lot of girls wanted to try out for the pom squad and it would be a downer for me to tell them that they wouldn’t be able to make it because they did not have all of the technical training,” Cook said.

Dance has a long standing history in the black community and the women of the drill team will be the embodiment of that Reid said.

Though years of training and experience are not prerequisites for membership, rhythm, dedication and hard work are. The team is about excellence as well as diversity, McClarty said.

“We don’t want to be a group of all black dancers,“ Reid said. “We want women of all races and backgrounds to be apart of this.”

If the team’s goals come into fruition, this will be an historical feat at OU. The hardest part will be getting people to truly appreciate our dancing style and the importance of what we are doing, Reid said.

“We are so used to dancing in our culture,” McClarty said. “We just want to share (it) with the OU community.”