Stanford women’s basketball team’s at-home winning streak may be due to a lucky halftime show, according to members of a Stanford dance class. The Stanford soul line dancers have appeared at games in Maples Pavilion over the last three years.

“Each time that we’ve danced, the Stanford women have won,” said LaDoris Cordell J.D. ‘74, special counselor to the President for campus relations and the founder of the soul line dancers.

Cordell joked that the group brings about the sporting successes.

“We dance, they win,” she said. “Is there is a causal link? Absolutely.”

The line dancers practiced last Saturday morning in a near-empty Maples Pavilion before the women’s basketball game against Arizona State. Twenty-odd dancers, mostly middle-aged, hurried to the middle of the court and began moving to Michael Jackson’s “Bad.”

Wearing red or maroon shirts emblazoned with “Stanford” or “Stanford soul line dancer,” the dancers grinned and grape-vined. They danced in two parallel rows, all doing the same move at the same time.

“I’m bad, I’m bad, I’m really bad,” sang Michael Jackson.

The line dancers concluded their performance with a bow.

“Check your shoes,” Cordell called. “We can’t leave any marks on the court.”

Line dancer Sally Hayman said when she first joined the dance group, she asked about the difference between line dancing and soul line dancing.

“They told me ‘Soul line dance is line dance with attitude,’” she said.

Jewel Lucas is a retired security-trading specialist and the instructor for the Stanford soul line dancers. She also teaches soul line dance classes on weekdays in Oakland.

“It’s good exercise and good people,” she said, adding that Stanford’s line dancers come from places as far away as Hayward, Oakland and San Francisco.

Cordell started the group in 2002 after participating in a soul line dance class in San Jose.

“We have all colors, sizes and shapes,” she said, adding that the dancers range in age from their 20s to their 80s. Cordell said the group is about more than just dancing

“We’re about bringing people together who ordinarily would not have even spoken to one another,” she said. “We’re about bridging the gap between the Stanford and non-Stanford communities.”

Cordell said that the class started with a half-dozen people but now has 40-50 regulars at class each week. More than 400 people have come to the class at least once since it began. In addition to performing at women’s basketball games, the line dancers also perform every year at Stanford’s Dance Marathon.

The line dancers have class for two hours every Saturday morning in the Elliot Programming Center. Newcomers are welcome and advised to bring water and soft-soled shoes.

The group has a devoted following at the women’s basketball games, according to Cordell.

“The crowd goes nuts,” she said.