Teams from rival clubs join in spirit of friendship

By Ben Gelinas
Edmonton Journal

Think of the Grey Cup’s Cheerleader Extravaganza as a family reunion, only the girls get tossed two storeys in the air and the outfits are probably a little skimpier.

Saturday night’s hopper of a show, featuring squads from all CFL clubs, has become an annual highlight of Grey Cup festivities. The point isn’t for the different cheerleaders to compete so much as mingle and perform their best stuff, in a celebration of the only sport in support of a sport.

Cheerleader Extravaganza is the baby of Edmonton Eskimos cheer coach Dianne Greenough, who has coached the Eskimo squad since 1996.

In her first full year on the job, the Eskimos made it to the Grey Cup in Hamilton. When she got there, Greenough was disappointed to find that only the teams actually playing in the big game brought their cheerleaders on the trip.

“It just seemed rather strange to me that these people who dedicate so many hours all year didn’t have a chance to celebrate things together,” Greenough says.

The Grey Cup was in the Edmonton the following year, and Greenough challenged every team in the CFL to send their cheerleaders for the party, regardless of which teams actually played the game. All the teams sent their cheerleaders, and have done so every year since.

The Extravaganza is the only time during the year that all the squads come together. They raise money through calendar sales to pay for the trip. In the past, the event has been held in beer gardens and bars. This year it was the kid-friendly gym at Grant MacEwan University’s downtown campus.

Saturday night, they shared one stage in front of packed bleachers, and took turns hauling out the fireworks: dazzling routines that showcased the variety between the different teams.

Calgary’s squad, called the Outriders, tipped their Stetsons. BC Felions literally bent over backward.

Edmonton’s cheer team has well over a dozen guys, who bolster a powerful stunt component in their routines.

They toss girls around like human batons, high enough to give the godfearing in the audience time to say a prayer for a safe landing.

Edmonton and Saskatchewan are the only teams with men and the only teams that stunt.

The rest focus heavily on dancing, and some, like Calgary, on gymnastic tumbling.

The show began with a team of junior girls, ages 8 to 11, also coached by Greenough, followed by mini-routines by Eskimo cheer alumni from as far back as the 1950s.

Ashley Croden, 44, performed to a Michael Jackson medley with fellow Eskimo cheerleaders from the 1980s, on the same mat her daughter, 11-year-old Grace, had just tumbled off as part of a junior squad from Greenough’s Perfect Storm Athletics.

“It’s pretty cool to have someone who can help you perfect your moves and stuff,” Grace said of her mom after the show.

For veteran Eskimo “stunters” Dylan Fry and Mitchell Dewing, Saturday marked one of the last times the guys will perform as Eskimos.

“For me, it’s the best part of the whole season,” Dewing says. “We get to see what everyone else is doing and kind off feed of that and support each other.”

Friendships have been made between squads because of this event. The rival squads even stay in a hotel together, home team included, to make sure they all get up and organized on time.

“It’s like family. You see these people for a full year, or a couple years straight,” says Robin Norsworthy, an Eskimo cheerleader in 2006. “You’re always with them.

“And once you’re alumni, everyone kind of just separates a little bit. At events like this, you see people you haven’t seen in years and it’s like no time at all passed.”

A little detour to Baltimore on my way back from Thanksgiving in Virginia. I caught up with the Ravens Cheerleaders before they hustled inside for their 4:15 against the Buccaneers.

Four Ravens Cheerleaders who are also graduates of James Madison University in Harrisonburg, VA.

Continue reading Outside M&T Bank Stadium with the Ravens Cheerleaders

Are you a current, former or prospective professional dancer or cheerleader? Does your team need hot choreography? Would you like to meet others in the industry or hear about audition opportunities?

Then get ready for the Southeast Pro Dance Workshop in Orlando, Florida on Saturday, December 4, 2010!

AGENDA
** Learn choreography from elite alumni and directors
** Representing the NFL, NBA, AFL, MISL, MLS, MLB and AIFA
** Get tips from the pros on fitness, nutrition, makeup, attire and more
** Network with other performers from the east coast (and beyond!)
** Receive giveaways from sponsors including attire and cosmetics
** Directors receive complimentary lunch sponsored by Angela King Designs

COSTS
** Morning (9:00am-12:00pm): $45
** Afternoon (1:00pm-4:00pm): $45
** Full day (9:00am-4:00pm): $79
** Directors: Bring 2 or more squad members and receive complimentary admission. All directors receive complimentary lunch and director’s roundtable session sponsored by Angela King Designs.
** Refund Policy: 75% of registration fees may be refunded through November 29, 2010

CHOREOGRAPHERS
Our choreographers are top alumni and directors of dance and cheer teams in the NFL, NBA, AFL and other sports leagues. They will teach 6 sidelines and 2 routines in length of 45-60 seconds, representing all major sports leagues. Read choreographer bios and view photos here!

Trisia Brown, NFL Cheerleader – Miami, NFL Pro Bowl Cheerleader, NFL & Pro Bowl Choreographer, Dance Studio Owner-FL

Danielle Berger-Meyer, NBA Dancer – Orlando & Atlanta, NBA Choreographer – FL

Miranda Lobs, NFL Cheerleader – Miami, CIFL Choreographer and Director, – NJ

Deanna Clover, NBA Dancer – Orlando, WBA, AFA, & ABA Choreographer and Director – Orlando

[Complete Choreographers Bios]

PRESENTERS
Featuring experts in the area of hair, makeup, attire, and interview skills:

Megan Clementi – expert in interview skills. Miss FL USA 2010, current Orlando Magic Emcee, former Magic dancer 5-yrs/team leader

Chyna – expert in Fashion and Hair design.  A top hair dresser at Ego Lab Hair Salon and Boutique in Orlando.

Michael Cairns – expert in creating the perfect headshot.  Premier sports photographer in Orlando with clients that include the Orlando Magic Dancers.

LOCATION
Body Tecz Training Facility
3869 Wekiva Springs Rd
Longwood, FL 32779

HOTEL ACCOMMODATIONS
Magnuson Grand Hotel Orlando
230 W. State Rd. 436
Altamonte Springs, FL 32714
1-407-862-4000

Just 11 minutes from the training facility
Mention the “Going Pro Entertainment December Convention” to receive the group rate

[Complete Workshop Information]

Bill Lubinger
The Plain Dealer
Tuesday, November 30, 2010

CLEVELAND, Ohio — Pat Otto was on a business call a few years back when she noticed the bubble-wrapped frame on the floor of her client’s Lakewood office.

“I said, ‘Oh, my God, is that…?’”

It was — in all it’s sexless glory — an old Browns cheerleader outfit. Otto, an account manager for an employee-benefits firm, hadn’t seen one since she turned hers in after the 1971 season.

She was Patti Adamson then, a 17-year-old Rocky River senior and a Cleveland Browns cheerleader. She was one of 19, or 20, or 32. It’s been so long, no one seems to remember exactly.

The Browns? They had cheerleaders?

Yes, believe it or not, but they’re a mere footnote in the team’s storied past because they vanished faster than a fourth-quarter lead.

And because the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders, they were not.

“We had them one year. They looked crazy. It was ridiculous,” Pat Modell, wife of the former Browns owner, said recently. “It was so cold in Cleveland that it almost looked like they were wearing wooly pajamas.”

Art Modell said in a recent phone interview he didn’t even remember the team having cheerleaders. Although some of the former cheerleaders recall being told at the time that it was her creation, Pat Modell said it was hatched by someone on Art’s staff.

“Whose idea was that?” she called out to Art in another room. “It was the biggest flop.”

Maybe, but a nugget of Cleveland football history nonetheless. And still meaningful — maybe more meaningful to some — with the passage of time.

“It was a blast,” said Robin Byall Paisley, a ’73 Rocky River grad and now a nurse in Portland, Ore. “To be out there in front of that crowd. At that age. Oh, wow, a Cleveland Browns cheerleader.”

The group was mostly juniors and seniors from local high school drill teams and cheerleading squads. They practiced on Saturday mornings at Edgewater Park, learning basic dance routines to the songs of director Frank Strasek’s Cleveland Browns pep band.

Perks were few. With no access to a dressing room, they had to arrive on game day in uniform.

And, oh, those uniforms. Strictly Pittsburgh Steeler-chic: white satin knickers with brown stripes down the side, brown knee socks, orange turtleneck sweaters, orange and white pom-poms and saddle shoes.

“It was really unflattering,” Paisley said. “We kind of looked like referees.”

The cheerleaders performed only at home games. They weren’t paid, but were allowed to bring a chaperone, which their dads, brothers and boyfriends lapped up. They went largely unnoticed, except by Steeler fans, who, as one former cheerleader recalled, tossed garbage and beer cans at them.

Paisley and her older sister, Lynne, Otto and a few friends were all recruited by their Rocky River pom-pom coach, who they believe had a connection to the Browns.

So the teens didn’t have to try out. But they did have a page-and-a-half of rules. Among them: No gum-chewing or consuming alcohol while in uniform. No excessive jewelry. No grooming on the field. No fraternizing with or dating the players. And, apparently, no cheering.

“One thing we could not do, we could not incite the crowd beyond, ‘Go Browns!’” said Lynne Byall Benson, now a college professor in Boston.

It’s not like they didn’t have something to cheer about that year. The Browns, under new head coach Nick Skorich, finished 9-5 before losing to the Baltimore Colts, 20-3, in the playoffs.

The cheerleaders were gone after 1971. Some actually quit before the season ended because it was so cold. They weren’t allowed to wear coats unless they all matched, but were told the Browns wouldn’t buy them.

They were to turn in their uniforms at season’s end, but Benson was so upset when the Browns reneged on a promise to invite them to the team’s year-end banquet that she kept hers. It’s still in a trunk at home.

The Browns have no record of the 1971 cheerleaders. No photographs. No mention in the media guide or game programs. They haven’t had cheerleaders since — one of the few NFL teams without them. The others: the Chicago Bears, Detroit Lions, New York Giants and the Steelers.

The Browns actually fielded cheerleaders before 1971, but that fact has been misreported.

Former Plain Dealer Sports Editor Hal Lebovitz, answering a reader question in 1979, wrote that the Browns had majorettes with a team band starting in 1946, but only the one season with cheerleaders.

The Plain Dealer’s Emerson Batdorff reported in 1960 that the team debuted “a talented crop” of six cheerleaders that season, in white sweaters, brown corduroy shorts and white earmuffs.

The Browns have a 1962 photo of four women who fit that description. One was Elaine Hybil, now Elaine Arndt of Wisconsin. They were all Brush High School majorettes who got to be Browns cheerleaders because the school band director played in the Browns’ pep band.

There were six cheerleaders in 1961 and four in ’62, including Sheila Lefkowitz, now Sheila Myers of Beachwood, who said her sister was also a Browns cheerleader in the late ’50s.

“They probably were there so the women had something to watch while their husbands were intent on the game,” Batdorff wrote back then. “Coach Paul Brown thinks of everything.”

The experience in 1971 was definitely a mixed bag, said Rocky River grad Rita Salah, now Rita Allen, a retired consultant living in Belgium.

“Part of me doesn’t want to admit that I did this,” she said. “And part of me is pleased to say that I did.”

Congratulations to 5-year veteran and co-captain Chelsea who was announced as the Redskins Pro Bowl Cheerleader this past Sunday at the Minnesota-Washington game.

[Chelsea at Redskins.com]

This is the second post of a weekly LA Times series that helps you get to know the Laker Girls
Mark Medina
LA Times Lakers Blog
November 28, 2010

Laker Girl name: Bria

Years on squad: Five seasons

Hometown: Los Angeles

Resides in: Harbor City

College/high school: Graduated UC Irvine; St. Bernard High School in Playa del Rey

What prompted you to want to become a Laker Girl? I used to dance for the Los Angeles Sparks, as a SparKid when I was younger … and looked forward to one day auditioning to become a Los Angeles Laker Girl. It seemed like the only, right next step up for me as a dancer.

At your audition, what do you think stood out about you to the judges? I feel that my positive energy showed through my performance. Also, I hope in my interview they could tell I was a team player.

What do you think makes a good Laker Girl? Definitely being a team player and a good role model for your teammates … but, more importantly, for any Lakers fans and children that interact with us.

What is your dance experience? I started dancing when I was 7 years old. I am trained in ballet/pointe, modern, jazz, tap, hip-hop and other stylized genres (character, flamingo, etc.).

Favorite dance routine while a Laker Girl? There was a dance routine we did a couple years ago called “Ciara Mix” that was really fun to perform because it was fast and high energy — like a lot of our routines!

Favorite uniform? My favorite uniform was one we called the “Mac ‘n’ Cheese” dress uniform. (We called it that because of the color.) Plus, it’s my favorite food! (ha ha)

Favorite Laker? Derek Fisher

Favorite Laker Girl memory so far? It would have to be walking down the stairs, while we entered the L.A. Coliseum for the 2008-09 NBA Championship Celebration! Not to mention performing in front of all those fans! It left me speechless, and it was an incredible experience.

What do you like most about being involved, as a Laker Girl, at local charity/community events? I love being able to meet the dedicated fans up close and personal. I especially enjoy meeting kids that we can impact and that look up to us for more than just our dancing. I guess I would say that I really feel appreciated by them all — and that alone is priceless.

What would you say is your beauty secret? Being genuine and really caring about others — that is beauty to me.

What diet/workout tips do you have? Take dance classes for exercise. It keeps you active in a fun way that you won’t become bored. You should try a zumba class, pilates or yoga.

What are your hobbies? Volleyball, swimming, running, and I enjoy doing hair and makeup.

Career aspirations? I would like to open an optimal performance training facility that offers rehabilitation and dance classes for athletes (especially dancers). I also plan on going to medical school.

–Mark Medina

Debra Yeo
The Toronto Star

Brenda Lowe had at least one shocking thing to say about her experience on Survivor: Nicaragua … NaOnka is nice.

No, she says she means it. Brenda

I asked the 27-year-old paddleboard company owner whether she felt genuinely close to NaOnka or hanging out with her was just part of Brenda’s strategy.

“No, I genuiniely did. What people don’t see is that, believe it or not, this is a shocker, she is actually a nice girl. She’s sweet and she’s kind and she’s funny, and I know all about her life and her past, and I felt like we were girlfriends, the way I was girlfriends with Kelly Purple. I thought that that’s the way that it was out there.

“I really did trust her, I really did, really really did trust her to the point where I was like, there’s no way this girl would vote for me.”

But, of course, we all know that NaOnka did vote to have her friend’s torch snuffed. And that Brenda voted for Na, calling her “my real true enemy.”

But on Tuesday, she said there were no hard feelings. Really.

She thinks the turning point for Na came in an exchange we didn’t see on TV, when their mutual ally Sash was off ziplining and eating with the other guys for winning a reward challenge.

“I did sort of talk to NaOnka … and I was like, ‘Look we might not be able to trust Sash depending on what he says after he comes back from this challenge.’ She looks at me and she’s like ‘Really?’ And I’m like ‘Yeah, really, we gotta be prepared to take him out if we have to’ and she’s like ‘Wow.’

“Luckily Sash came back very trustworthy and I said, ‘Listen Na, forget about what I said, we can trust him.’ And she’s like, it was already too late, she went and told Sash, and she was already starting to get paranoid about me thinking too much and thinking about even taking out Sash, our friend.”

Nor does she blame NaOnka, she says, even though in the end Na and Sash took our their friend Brenda.

“I mean she’s playing a tough game. Everyone is playing a game whether we see it or not. And they must be playing a better game, because they’re there and I’m not, so I think that says something about them. I just underestimated most everybody out there, I think.”

When it comes to her other formerly staunch ally, Sash, Brenda believes he must have been in another alliance unseen by her and the TV audience. Otherwise, why would he have put himself at risk by allowing her to be voted off?

“These people are trying to target you by targeting me,” she says she told Sash.

“I was like why? Why? Sash is smart, why would he allow this to happen? But it has to be that he has other alliances, it just has to be like that.”

We also talked about the whole issue of scrambling, a word Brenda said she hates. She was ribbed by Jeff Probst at tribal council for not “scrambling” to save herself.

“There was a reason why I didn’t scramble and this is why. It was frustrating to watch the whole episode. It’s like, there’s a reason why, Jeff. You can’t expain it right then and there, but my strategy for staying in the game was going to the people who had incentive to save me, which was Chase and Sash.

“And Sash more than anybody because he had the idol and I could have used it for him to save me really. And I was trying to show them, ‘Look, I’m loyal to you. I’m not talking to Benry, I’m not talking to Fabio, I’m not talking to Holly and Jane, I’m talking to you and you only.’ …

“So if I was go scrambling it would have killed it, they would have seen can’t trust Brenda, what is she telling these people, and not having a big enough incentive to save me.”

There’s one other thing Brenda would like to set the record straight on: the impression that she’s arrogant.

“I definitely see it when they only show certain soundbites and if you see a guy who’s as sweet as Chase and me saying not the nicest things about him, um, yeah you definitely see it and a lot of people might not understand my personality or the way that I looked at it.

“This is a game, if I feel confident I’m gonna feel confident, that’s just the way I am. Some people like it and some people don’t like it. I really hate arrogance and it’s a little upsetting that I came across that way to anybody.”

Playing Survivor was a dream come true, said the former Miami Dolphins cheerleader and beauty pageant winner, who counts paddleboarding, mountain biking and swimming among her hobbies.

“I’m a competitor. I love physical things. I love playing games. I make competitions out of who can run fastest to that mailbox … So for the ultimate game like Survivor and having to do the challenges and plus having to do alliances and all that, plus c’mon the prize is a million dollars.

“It was a no-brainer and, like I tell people, I would have done Survivor for free.”

The bad part, as other castmates have complained, was the lack of sleep.

“The sleeping, it just drives you nuts. You’re exhausted and then to have rain that doesn’t stop and you’re freezing cold and everyone around you is miserable. The energy in the air is depressing. And that is the worst.”

Still, if she got the chance she’d do it again in a heartbeat.

I learned, I saw and felt and lived the mistakes, and know what I would do a lot differently, so yeah, I would love that second chance.”

On a night when Dwight Howard would rattle the backboard with emphatic dunks, and the end of the Magic-Jazz game would come down to the final seconds, the loudest, most spontaneous, deafening crowd reaction of the night at Orlando’s new Amway Center was during the first quarter.  The Magic and Jazz weren’t on the court, as they were over at their respective benches during a time out.  The focus of the crowd’s attention was group of performers a little bit older than the players, but the homestretch of their routine created a reaction from the fans so voluminous, it would have scared away an approaching hurricane.

Four hours earlier, in an empty arena, things were much quieter.  In mid-afternoon on November 10th, the Silver Stars of the Orlando Magic, were on the shiny, pristine NBA court, rehearsing for their performance that night.  The Silver Stars are a squad that performs at the Magic games, and are comprised of local men and women who have put their day jobs behind them and are enjoying retirement in central Florida.  Initially, down to the south on the turnpike in Miami, the Heat first introduced a squad of retirees to perform during their NBA games.  Certainly it was a natural to have a senior squad in central Florida, too, and Orlando Magic Dancers Manager Jeanine Klem-Thomas formed the Magic’s Silver Stars in 2005.  The Silver Stars all reside in the same retirement community.  Jeanine says, “The Villages of Lady Lake is one of the largest and most prominent retirement communities in the United States with residents from across the country.  We reached out to them as it seemed like a perfect fit and location to find members for the team!”

Continue reading The Silver Stars Deliver Pure Gold for the Orlando Magic