A dance squad or dance team, sometimes called a pom squad or song team, is a team that participates in competitive dance. A dance squad can also include: a jazz squad, ballet squad, or any kind of religion dance squad. Dance squads are a type of performance dance.

In the United States and Canada most high schools, and universities, have a dance squad. These squads perform at sporting events, most commonly at football and basketball games. They perform during the pre-game activities, halftime periods, and on the sidelines during play.

In a routine, a dance squad will incorporate a specific dance style (e.g. hip hop, jazz, or lyrical), technical work (leaps, turns, kicks, splits, jumps), and, depending on the routine, pom-poms and cheers.

A dance squad may use pom-poms in some of their dance routines. A dance squad that uses pom-poms in all its dance routines is called a pom squad. Pom squads also use kicklines in their routines. A kickline routine is a routine of kicks, which cheerleaders also use. The pom squad stands in a line and performs a series of kicks, such as high kicks, fan kicks, low kicks, and kicks that go to their waist.

Dance squad is a highly competitive activity. Youth, association, middle school, high school, collegiate, all-star, and professional teams, compete on local, regional, state, national, and international levels. Dance squads are judged on a number of criteria including form, squad unison, showmanship, precision of motions, jumps, leaps, turns, choreography, enthusiasm, and, in the case of pom squads, visual use of poms-poms.

Dance squads emphasize precise, synchronized motions along with technical dance skills (such as jumps, turns, and leaps). Their routines encompass various styles of dance including the more usually incorporated hip hop, jazz, lyrical, and kickline styles, to the more unusually used styles like disco, rock and roll, and gospel. A key feature of the dance is the ability to change formations very smoothly.

Traditional high school dance/pom squads include competition, performance dance, and promoting school spirit with dance. Dance/pom is usually a year-round sport, performing in competitions and at sporting events, most commonly football and basketball games. Some schools also have their dance team perform short sideline dances, and some dance teams also perform at school pep rallies. In most of the United States, dance teams who participate in cheering on sports teams are referred to as pom teams. In many west coast schools, this team will be known as the song team or “song girls”. These teams are often mistaken for cheerleading as they wear similar uniforms and say cheers on sports sidelines.

College dance squads are like traditional high school squads in that both include competition and performance dance, but there are many differences between the two. For example, a college squad will most likely dance on the sidelines at games or have a specific spot in the stands, but some high school teams will also perform on the sidelines.