More than 30 dancers, in all races, shapes and sizes, glide around the floor dressed in everything from Chuck Taylors and scarves to pajama pants. They dip to the ground, circle around each other making serpents with their arms.

Then someone screws up. Everyone breaks formation and bursts into laughter.

“All right, everyone, from the beginning!” yells club president Sonya Patel, a senior in biomedical engineering.

Fusion dance team is a hybrid of hip-hop and ethnic dancing. Paul Tonog, a junior in biological life sciences, said the choreographers draw on the varied cultural backgrounds of the team’s members.

“We strive for diversity,” Tonog said. “We grow more and more diverse every year.”

At one point during practice, Fusion’s leaders divided everyone according to ethnicity and had them compete to see who could most accurately perform the routine.

“We’re comfortable enough to be able to do that,” Sarah Enteen, a junior in biological sciences, said with a laugh.

In the past, Fusion has danced to Indian hip-hop and choreographed routines involving umbrellas and fans. This year, they are looking into doing a traditional African routine.

“We used to dance to M.I.A. a lot — before she got famous,” Sam Kim, a junior in communication, said.

Although the club now consists of several dozen members and is regularly booked for shows and events, it came from humble beginnings.

“It started out as a student organization, as part of the Asian Student Association,” Patel said. “They got a few people together — it was strictly a one-time thing.”

Now, the club’s bookings range from smaller events — Bragaw’s upcoming diversity night, performing at local high schools – to Journey into Asia at UNC-Chapel Hill, the Triangle Dance Festival for AIDS, N.C. State’s homecoming Pep Rally and Pack-a-thon in the spring.

“These events are great because they give us a chance to promote ourselves,” Patel said. “We’re finally starting to get our name recognized.”

Fusion hops from studio to studio in Carmichael Gymnasium until the dance team completes its practice. Once they have moved in, they have to share the space with at least one other club, usually Wolfpack Bhangra.

“It’s chaotic, but we make it work,” Enteen said.

In addition, several people who haven’t quite mastered Fusion’s intricate moves join the team on the dance floor. Of the 40 people that tried out for Fusion this year, only 10 made it onto the team’s roster, while the others were invited to practice with the team whenever they wanted.

“After a year of training with us, they’ll probably make it the next year,” Kim said.

Patel said the team is not affiliated with club sports and doesn’t look to change that any time soon. Kim called Fusion “our own organization,” saying they prefer to leave their options open.

“We’re an independent club,” Kim said. “We’re not limited to anything, and we like it that way.”

Enteen and her team members want to dispel any rumors their troupe was formed to mimic America’s Best Dance Crew. Fusion has been around since 2002, long before the MTV show went on the air.

“Just to be clear, we did not start this club because of America’s Best Dance Crew…although we do watch it religiously and talk about it all the time,” Enteen said.