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Podcast: S9 Ep. 14
Date: May 19, 2026
Title: LU Moment: Dezja Kelly is making historic moves with LU Dance Team | S9 Ep. 14
Host: John Rollins

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JOHN ROLLINS: Welcome to the LU Moment, where we showcase all the great things happening with Â鶹ÊÓƵ faculty, staff, students, and alumni. I'm John Rollins, Associate Director of Community Relations and Public Affairs here at LU, and I want to welcome you all to this week's show. Competitive sports come in all shapes and sizes, and today we'll be putting a spotlight on the Â鶹ÊÓƵ Dance Team. The team recently took home first place at the College Classic National Championship in Orlando, Florida, last month. So, I'm excited to welcome Head Dance Coach Dezja Kelly to the show today. Welcome to the podcast, Dezja.

DEZJA KELLY: Thank you. Thank you for having me.

JOHN: I’ve got to throw out that new last name, right? Congratulations on your recent marriage!

DEZJA: Thank you so much.

JOHN: That's awesome. So, yeah, so anyone listening, if you know her as Dezja Brown, go ahead and flip that switch in your brain to Dezja Kelly, right? So, we recently put out a story, I say recently, I think it was yesterday, on the LU News site about the win at Nationals, and you told me that the dance team has a roster of 22 dancers for the 25-26 school year, and y'all are excited to grow on that. So, let's hear a little bit more about the team first, and then we'll talk about the trip to nationals and the history making moment that came from that. So, let's hear about the team.

DEZJA: Yeah, so a little bit about this year's team specifically. We started off with a bigger number than that. We started off with 30, and then by the time we got to nationals, it was 22. So, we brought our 22 throughout the season. They still went to every single home game for football, every single basketball home game, and then in the mix of all that, they were learning routines for nationals, learning routines for spring show, and having like extra rehearsals to make nationals possible. This year we had three captains, two head captains, one co-captain, and then we had a president, and then we had three seniors, so we had a really strong leadership team, which has a lot to do with us winning at nationals. Honestly, they carried the team throughout the year, so it's been a really exciting year. I know it was stressful, but we got the result that we wanted, so it all worked out.

JOHN: An amazing result. And you know, I love that you bring up kind of the behind the scenes and the work that goes into it, because there's a lot that goes on that doesn't meet the eye, you know what I mean. If they see a couple of minutes on stage at Nationals performing, but you told me, like, there's sewing involved with the costumes, I mean, these are little things that maybe you wouldn't think about, but your team is helping out with all aspects of it.

DEZJA: For sure. We have a seamstress, is what we call her. She kind of just took on everything by herself. She was a game day leader, and essentially her job description was to help out with game day duties. If the captain stepped out, then she was next in charge. If I had to step out for something, and then she was like, “No, coach, I know how to sew. I got this.” She taught some girls on the team how to sew. We like got everything together. Our hip hop costume actually won first place. We ordered these patches from Amazon that had to do with, like, Texas and Texas Pride, and we ironed those on to make the costumes look like super custom made, and really that was just us with an iron in the group fitness studio, trying to make all of that happen, so yeah.

JOHN: Hey, putting in the work, and you know, we recently put out a story about the cheer team as well, who took home second place at nationals, so claps for them, right? But Megan, the cheer coach, Megan Thompson, told me something similar. She said they introduced a new prop called flyovers, and it took like 50 hours worth of work that they put into it.

DEZJA: Yes. Crazy. She will sometimes post on her TikTok. A little shameless plug here, y'all. Go check out Megan's TikTok. But she recorded herself doing all the behind the scenes and making those props. And then my first time seeing it was at our national showcase that took place a week before we went to, she went to Daytona, and we went to Orlando, but it was awesome. Like, I was like, I have never seen anything like this before. And cheer did amazing last season, but just the growth between last season and this season, and the energy that they had was like incredible to watch.

JOHN: So, yeah, congratulations. They've been killing it as well, fourth place, third place, second place, I mean, improving every year, so let's take home that first next year, for sure. So, before we move on, you know, I'd like to have you introduce yourself, so we can get to know you, and then we'll kind of jump into this nationals trip that y'all recently went on, and obviously the amazing results. So, let's hear more about Dezja.

DEZJA: Right, so my name is formerly Dezja Brown, and recently, Dezja Kelly. I am an alumni of Â鶹ÊÓƵ. I was on the dance team for four years, and one of those years I served a leadership position. I got my degree in social work, and that's pretty handy. You wouldn't think that it is, but Lamar has one of the best social work programs ever. Got my degree here in social work. I went on to get my master's degree, and then heard that the dance team was hiring an assistant coach, so applied for that, and then later on got promoted to head coach, and that was back in October of 2022 And okay, we're still here and excited about the future of the dance team.

JOHN: That's awesome. And then, so let me ask you this. You know, anytime I have a coach on, or any type of sport, or things like that, I like to ask, where did it all start? So, for you, were you a dancer as a child, or yeah, where'd that start for you?

DEZJA: Yeah, so I've been dancing since the age of three, and I'm not going to tell my age, but I will say that's 20 something plus years. And I was a super reserved kid. I didn't talk much, just like my face really didn't change much at school, and I actually did not like school at all. Like, I would go to the nurse, my mom is probably going to laugh my mom and dad when they hear this, but I would go to the nurse's office every day and like make something up. I'm like, my head hurts, call my mom. Yes, but when I got on the stage, it was like a completely different person, like super extroverted on stage. Loved to dance all my life. I teach at a studio in Lumberton, Texas, named Studio Dance Academy, and I actually got that job when I was here on the dance team. So, dance has always been a part of my life, and then being a part of that program, when I was here, was so special. It really did highlight my college career was the best thing I was a part of. So, it was an honor to come back.

JOHN: Well, we're definitely glad to have you back, for sure. We always love when our alumni want to come back and be a part of LU. Speaking of Megan, as well, she was an alumni, and now she's the same. Yeah, so me and Megan, we were... we weren't close, because we weren't on the same team, but, like, that was my girl, we were on the dance and the cheer team at the same time, so yeah, it's full circle for us to now be working together, coaching those teams, the teams that we were part of.

JOHN: Definitely, shout out to Megan, I should have had you both on at this podcast episode, y'all could have bounced off each other for sure, but I love what you brought up a while ago, because you hear a lot from actors that say that they're incredibly shy and nobody would know it, but once they get on stage or in front of the once the film starts rolling, you know, the video camera starts rolling, it's like something just flips and they're ready to roll, that that's you with dance.

DEZJA: That's just the passion of it all. Yeah, come alive on the stage.

JOHN: Okay, let's go ahead and get to the fun part. First place at College Classic in Orlando. So, tell us all about it. This is incredible for Lamar. I'll say that.

DEZJA: Yes, so this year we took three routines. We took a hip hop, which is that first place. We took a jazz, which got second place in the nation, and then we also took a Pom, and this year was our first time competing in the Pom Division, and we went home with a fourth place, and that was way more than we expected, especially with the second place in jazz. The way that DTU works, or the College Classic works, is for jazz you potentially have to perform through three rounds, hip hop and Pom, there's two rounds, but because of our jazz division is so big, they kind of separated, so we have always had to fight through three rounds, and we've always been super proud of what we ranked, because that is one of the hardest divisions. I will say that this year I believe we were in eighth place, that's where we sat for prelims, and then for semifinals we were in second place, and then for finals we earned second place as well, so that was a huge accomplishment. And then for hip hop, once we heard the rankings from prelims, our jaws were just like on the floor, but like there was one moment, full transparency, I was looking at my team and they were looking at me, and we were kind of like, "Oh, I don't think they're going to call our name, like I just... we were kind of like, oh, couldn't be us, right?” And then they called our names, and we were like, wait, no, that is us. So that was just like full circle for us, and feeling like, yeah, why not us? We're just as good as these other teams. We pour in a lot of extra hours and hard work, so it was a confidence boost for all of us. We were riding on that high all the way through finals, and then was just so rewarding to like see all of them jump up and literally scream and cry and see that all their hard work had paid off.

JOHN: I love that so much for the team, you know. And how you said, why not us? I think that's the mindset across campus we should have. Lamar, you know, Lamar is on the rise in a lot of different aspects, and why not Lamar? You know, we put in the work just like everybody else, and it clearly paid off, so I think that's incredible that y'all brought three routines and they all placed in the top five.

DEZJA: Yes, for the first time ever. We usually do bring two routines each year, even that first year that we went, and when I told my captains about this, they looked at me like I was crazy, I was like, “I really want to take three, like I just think y'all can do it.” I'm like, no, like I'm telling you, you can do it. And then we had our guest choreographers come in. That jazz routine I created all on my own and probably drove all of them insane with all the changes, and I'm like, I don't know. Let's look at it again. We went through like hours and hours of film, and then it finally, it really didn't feel right until we got there at nationals. And a lot of the case, that's just what it is when you're creating a piece on your own. But we're super proud, and they're like, "You told us we could do it.” I was like, "Yeah, I did, and you did, and you take, you placed top five in all of them.” So it was incredible.

JOHN: That's a good coach. You saw the potential before they did, right? I love that. When I asked you earlier about kind of what the team does throughout the year, I think you gave a very humble answer, but y'all are very active. You're at the football games, the basketball games, I mean, you are visible, you're out there doing it. So, would you like to elaborate a little more on, like, where the community can get involved, or see you all perform?

DEZJA: Yes. So, football season, of course, we're at every single home game. To go more into detail, we perform. Let me get this right. We start off with the Cardinal Walk, where we're spiriting on with the football players and making sure that they feel ready. We're just like their biggest, their number one fans. We're out there with cheer, we're out there with band, and then we go back in, and then we have our parade through Boomtown with band and cheer again. And then we go in, they change quickly. We perform a pre-show performance before the game starts, and then they go change for sidelines, and then they have a halftime performance. They get back on the sidelines, then they have a timeout performance, and then very similar to basketball, they perform on the sidelines, they have halftime, they have a timeout. Also, sometimes if we have the time, we'll make appearances at volleyball games, baseball, soccer, whenever we can be available, and then, as well, we put on a lot of community events. I think that is something kind of newer for the dance team that not many people know about. We have several kids clinics, we have done several community events for, like, the cancer walk, Alzheimer's walk. There are several things that we have going on that we would love the community to come out for, and one of those is also our Spring Show that happens every single May. Usually the first weekend of May, these athletes put on a show of about 22 dances, and you get to see them do all different styles.

JOHN: Twenty two is a lot!

DEZJA: That’s including their nationals routines, so it's just like a full circle moment. Y'all get to see the behind the scenes of what you may not see at these community events and at these other athletic events like the games, so it's just like a full circle. We didn't get to compete when I was on the team. Show has always been my favorite part of being on the team, and it still is. It's an honor to take them to compete, but also like just seeing them dance and get to do what they want to do for themselves, so that's a little bit about what we do. We have a form online where anybody who needs the dance team or needs the cheer team to show up to anything, you fill out that form and we try to make it happen.

JOHN: So, I think that's pretty incredible what the students are able to accomplish. And when you bring up the spring, did you call it the spring show? It's literally what, like, a month after nationals, if that?

DEZJA: A couple weeks, sometimes.

JOHN: A couple of weeks? So they're preparing for nationals, they're preparing these 22 performances for spring show. I mean, our students are amazing,

DEZJA: They really are, and juggling classes, their personal lives, work, a lot of our team members work part-time jobs, they work at dance studios, they work anywhere that they can, and a lot of times they're picking up extra hours because, as we know, college is expensive, all things are expensive. Then they have their own personal lives and still trying to represent the university in a strong way. So, yeah, they're super strong, balancing it all. I know that I also drive them crazy, so also dealing with me, they're really incredible.

JOHN: Yeah, hard working for sure. So, let me ask you this, what's been the most fulfilling part of being involved with LU Dance and being their coach?

DEZJA: I think because I am an alumni of the university and the program, it's a program that I've cared so much about just growing it, so all aspects for me, just like always looking forward to the next year, and then me as a coach, looking at what I can do better. Something that I do throughout the season is ask the athletes, like, what do you need from me, and like, even if they're not comfortable telling me one on one, I ask as a group, I am the coach that's going to have a powwow. I'm like, hey, tell me what you need from me. What can I do better? What do you need? What type of resources do you need? So, just like full circle, being back and seeing the program grow from when I was on the team to now, it's probably like if I had to have a dream job, you know that quote where they say, like, nobody dreams of labor, like this is 100% my yeah, this is my dream job. So, it's been incredible to be here.

JOHN: Yeah, well, we're definitely lucky to have you, and I know we brought Megan up several times in this podcast, but she said something similar, like this is my dream job. So, I'm glad we've got both of you in the right spots here at Lamar. We are blessed to have you both.

DEZJA: Thank you.

JOHN: So, how can folks keep up with the dance team, you know, a social media website. How can they find y'all?

DEZJA: Yes, we are on Instagram and Facebook @lamarudanceteam. And then we also have a website, lamar.edu/dance team. Our biggest platform is probably Instagram, that's where you get to see more of the dancers' personalities, you get to see them at practice, a little bit more of like behind the scenes. This upcoming season, we're really excited. We are looking into possibly getting an assistant coach.

JOHN: That'd be great help for you.

DEZJA: Yes, and then also just like more social media initiatives, people who are even younger than me, helping out and getting more of community outreach and visibility on social media. So, @lamarudanceteam on Instagram is where you can find us.

JOHN: Fantastic, and y'all are very active on social media, so y'all definitely go follow them, because they post very fun stuff on Instagram. So, Dezja, thanks again for all you do for our students, for our campus, and not only here in Texas, but on a national stage as well.

DEZJA: Thank you so much for having me.

JOHN: To catch the LU stories just like Dezja's, be sure to search LU Moment wherever you get your podcasts to keep up with the events, activities, programs, and people right here at Â鶹ÊÓƵ. This is John Rollins, your host. Thank you for listening, and we'll talk to you next time.