What do a group of Indianapolis boys and Wade Robson have in common?

The answer is dancing. (Wade Robson is the guy you see on Gap commercials, and he has worked with such stars as Britney Spears.)

Y-Press recently spoke to members of Dance Dogzz, an all-male dance group that practices at Dancedreams School for Performing Arts on the Southside. Scott Powell, 17; Matt Miller, 17; Andrew O' Farrell, 14; Colin Knapp, 11; Sean Seager, 14; Evan Warner, 11; Marty Casanova, 17; Ben Miller, 14; Tony Sahm, 14; and Jason Adams, 17, recently discussed what it is like to be in the dance group.

Beginning with just two members three years ago, the troupe grew to 10 but lost three members over the summer. All the boys are involved in a variety of dance classes, including jazz, tap, hip-hop and ballet, as well as more conventional pastimes such as Boy Scouts and soccer.

Some of the boys became interested in dancing after participating in drama productions or show choir. Some picked it up from a sister or brother, and others joined the troupe because their friends were in it.

But all agree that they like the feeling they get when they dance.

"You just gotta get used to it and kind of get in the groove and feel the beat and listen to the music. I mean, it's just natural," said Colin. "The music comes on and you like this song, and you just start dancing."

"It's good exercise, too," added Scott.

For routines, they show their choreographer, Karen Clayborn, what they want to do, and she picks the best one.

They like to dance to fast, upbeat music by such artists as 'N Sync and Backstreet Boys. "As long as it has a good beat," Sean said.

They agree that being a dancer requires devotion -- setting priorities and sacrificing time as well as sleep.

"You get close to no sleep. . . . I get home from school, if I go home after school, and I go through my homework really fast. And then I come here. I'm here like Monday through Saturday," said Marty.

Members average an hour of practice per week -- much more when competition is near.

Despite the challenges, the boys agree that dance is worth the hours.

Sean enjoys the fact that he is able to have fun with his friends. "We mainly have fun most of the time that we dance, and we enjoy each other's company," he said.

The troupe exercises and stretches before practice. The moves can be strenuous, and some group members have problems with the steps.

"The hardest thing is doing a move that I'm not really meant to do -- like I can't do the splits," said Colin.

"I can't do a worm," Evan added.

The group works well together; it shows in the teamwork and effort they put forth when they dance. Colin described a strategy to help them to even out skill levels: "We put our best -- or someone who is better at the move -- at the front, and some other people may be kind of hidden."

But that doesn't mean anyone can slack off. "You gotta work hard in order to have fun," Ben said.

Dance Dogzz has participated in contests in Cincinnati, New York and Las Vegas. They have similar goals for competitions: to do their best and have fun.

Competition helps to improve the boys' routines. Even seeing their competition before they perform inspires some of them.

"If you see better groups in front of you, before you go on, then you get a little bit motivated and actually want to go out and beat them," Sean said.

Evan has a different reaction. "It makes me nervous," he said.

Before performances, the boys experience similar emotions.

"First, we usually run (through) a dance, the dance you're gonna perform. . . . You're pretty relaxed, feeling pretty confident," Matt said.

"And then as you're walking down the hallway on the way to the stage, you start getting a little nervous. Then they announce your name and the group and stuff, and you walk up on the stage, and then you're really nervous. And then you start performing a little bit, you start to relax once more, and by the end of the dance, you're just pretty relaxed," he added.

"There are a lot of different things that you think about," Marty said, such as "if there's certain trouble spots, like in rehearsals, that you had problems with or like at competitions, you don't get to the stage before, so you wonder if it's going to be slippery and what's the stage going to be like. That's what goes through my head."

Some performances are better than others. The boys agreed their routines in New York and Cincinnati went well -- but the one at the national championship in Las Vegas didn't.

Said Sean: "For us, New York and Cincinnati, it was just this little small-time thing, but with nationals, with us being a small group and not as prepared as a lot of the other groups, it was, in my mom's words, kind of like a slap in the face when we found out how good everybody was."

But no matter what goes wrong, from props getting in the way to falling down to being discouraged by the competition, the most important thing is to function as a team.

"It's really important, because you have to stay together and be on the beat. Because if not, it'll look really bad, and we don't want that," Colin said.

ASSISTANT EDITOR: Jessica Davey, 16.

REPORTERS: Zachary Bell, 13; Jasmine Riley, 13.