The room is filled with whispers. Sparkly blue pom-poms lay strewn across the hardwood floor. The music is blaring but no one is dancing. All eyes are on the 6-foot-10 frame that just walked into the door.
To say that the Dazzlers were stunned when Yassin Idbihi walked into their afternoon practice would be an understatement. The crop-top wearing undergraduates were speechless and astonished. Idbihi, however, knew exactly what he was doing.
"The Dream" was there to learn a few dance steps in the process of perfecting his game on the court.
"My friends tell me that I could play better basketball if I could dance better," said Idbihi. "Rio (Mario Jordan) and Wally (Hall) hold it down in the club and on the court. Hopefully this will help for next year."
Still, the dance team was shocked to see him in the dance studio.
"I've heard of football players taking ballet but I always thought that was just some joke that people made up," said a Debbie, a UB Dazzler. "I never thought someone from the basketball team would want to show his goodies. Plus, he's kind of cute."
It is estimated that the Dazzlers will have the opportunity to oogle at Idbihi for up to three weeks while he learns all of the dances. The number of dances isn't an issue. The aspect that is prolonging the successful completion of Idbihi's goal is simple song selection.
"I don't really like the songs," said Idbihi. "They are too alike and too repetitive. But at least all their moves are pretty similar. That makes the dances easier to learn."
Learning dance moves could help Idbihi on the court with his mobility and agility. According to Robert Knopf, Chair of the University at Buffalo's Theatre and Dance department, Idbihi isn't the first UB athlete who decided to lace up some jazz shoes.
"On average, we have seven student-athletes a year enter a course in our program," said Knopf. "That is a large number in relation to the number of non-dance majors that are able to get into our classes. In the past, we have seen athletes such as Zachary Love, Ann Magur, Kyle Cerminara, and Molly Schrantz enroll and achieve greatness in courses provided by the school."
While the aforementioned athletes hail from all areas of the athletic department, fans seem to believe that Idbihi's decision to learn moves on the dance floor could in fact prosper into better moves on the court.
"When he's on the court, he tends to look like he doesn't have control of his body sometimes," said junior psychology major Jennifer Gogle. "Maybe dance classes are the way to go. It couldn't hurt. But then again, it's the Dazzlers."
Coach Reggie Witherspoon, on the other hand, shed a positive light on the Dazzlers.
"I think the Dazzlers are a great group of girls who really embody the team spirit and work well together," said Witherspoon. "For Yassin to have the opportunity to be in the presence of such talented members of the community, I feel that the entire team as a whole can only benefit from Yassin taking the initiative to improve his game."
Fans will have to wait until the beginning of next season to see if Idbihi's game is positively affected by the Dazzlers.
Photo: Courtesy of Matthew Messina, from the RMBERS' Instagram page
