Now THIS is what I call planning in advance.
This year’s Laker Girl auditions are scheduled for Saturday, July 21. Click here for details.

Tracy Kornet
CBS DFW
February 28, 2012

CARROLLTON (CBSDFW.COM) – She’s got the drive, the figure, and the discipline of a Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader. But does Sharon Simmons have what it takes to dance alongside some of the most visible women in the world? She’ll soon find out when the Carrollton resident auditions to be a Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader.

She’s also a grandmother of two.

“I’m 55. And in May around the competition, I’ll be 56,” explained Sharon Simmons. “On stage, I blend right in with women in their 20, 30s and up.”

Simmons was asked if she believes there is a physical difference between her body and those of the 19-year-olds trying out? “Absolutely no difference,” she declared.

Sharon Simmons is an author and national fitness competitor who embraces what she calls “defining moments.” She had one last December, when she used the Cowboys cheerleader uniform as inspiration for a fitness costume.

“I thought that’s something I never tried. I always wanted to try out. I got real close in my early 20′s but got busy raising my daughter. And I thought, why not now?”

So she contacted her choreographer, who suggested a dance studio, who recommended seeking Audrea Cowen [née Ulmer] for help–a former Cowboys cheerleader -now- dance instructor at Plano’s K.J. Dance Studio.

The two work weekly on routines and fundamentals, both in group and private lessons.

Simmons says her strength is in the competition itself. “I don’t get overly nervous. I’ll be find talking to the judges. I’m used to being on stage.”

But will that be enough to earn a spot among these high-kicking icons? Cowen says dancing is an entirely different ballgame.

“The flexibility required to be a cheerleader is greater than what she needs for fitness competition,” Audrea Cowen explained.

Sharon admits at 55, memorizing the fast-paced routines is tough. But she’s giving it her best shot, whether she makes it or not.

“I love life. I’m having a blast. I’m having a ball.”

Simmons has ten more weeks to rehearse. Auditions to be a 2012 Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader happen May 5 and 6.

If you were a frequent visitor to the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders website during the 2010-11 NFL season, you probably read all of Brooke Sorenson’s blogs about her upcoming wedding. Well, Brooke married her Prince Charming Laynce Nix (an outfielder for the Phillies) last November. The two got hitched in Bahamas and the wedding party included a whole gang of current and former Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Stephanie Heymann, Kandi Harris, Kelsi Reich, Jordan Chanley, Tobie Percival, Tia Williams, Michelle Keys, and Crystal and Trisha Trevino.

The wedding photographer has posted a few photos from Brooke’s big day on her website. Click here to check it out!

Twenty years before Linsanity, the Knicks City Dancers took Madison Square Garden by storm. I should know—my aunt invented them.

Your instinct at the end of the first quarter of a Knicks game might be to stand up and stretch your legs. But be warned: There’s a good chance you’ll be chided, with various degrees of politeness, to sit back down, because you’re blocking the view of 20 lithe, leggy Knicks City Dancers shaking what their mamas gave them. On some nights, particularly before Carmelo Anthony and then Jeremy Lin came to town, they could be the most entertaining thing on the court.

Last Friday night, after the buzzer signaled the end of the first quarter against the New Orleans Hornets, the dancers stormed the court. The Knicks were down 27-13, an unpromising start to what would be their first loss since Linsanity took hold earlier this month, and Madison Square Garden was packed with fans who had come to see the Harvard-educated point guard. But for just a few minutes, all eyes were focused on the dancers as they performed a routine from their early days, part of their 20th anniversary celebration.

“My Aunt Pam created the Knicks City Dancers,” I explained loudly, and unnecessarily, since all of my friends already know this. My standard game outfit resembles that of a headstrong, overgrown child: I sport a bedazzled Knicks hat adorned with playoff pins from 1993,‘94, and ‘96, sized to the largest notch, and an early ‘90s Larry Johnson Hornets jersey, which formerly hung to my knees but these days is best described as slim-fitting, from before Johnson was traded to the Knicks in 1996 and the Hornets relocated from Charlotte, N.C., to New Orleans. It’s a nod to my childhood fandom and the ‘90s Knicks, who, though I was only in single digits at the time, figure heavily into my early memories. That’s because my mom’s younger sister, Pamela Harris, joined the Knicks in 1991 as director of marketing. In addition to overseeing the development of the classic “Go NY Go” theme song—which asked fans the ever-important question, “Are you down with the orange and the blue?”—she spearheaded the creation of the Knicks City Dancers. In the process, my aunt facilitated one glorious, loosely interpreted “take your daughter to work day” during which I got to use the announcer’s microphone and even dribble on the court.

Read the rest here.

Former Sea Gal and Sonics Dancer Ali Dee makes her case:

Hi its me, Ali Dee, a singer/songwriter from Texas and CMT’s Texas Women I am ready to share my new music with the world!!! Only one little teensy weensy problem… I need your help to raise to moola to make it happen!! Record labels can spend upwards of $80,000-$500,000 smackers to get their artists albums made, I am asking for a tiny portion of that because I have folks that believe in me and are willing to knock off some change here and there to make it happen. I’ve got some of the best people lined up to make incredible music, I just want to be able to pay them what they deserve to help me make my dreams come true…

HERE IS WHERE YOU COME IN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have the best fans in the entire universe and if you look to your right you will see lots of cool REWARDS I have set up to give away in order to collect the dollars to make this thing a go. Browse, pick, and then donate whatever you can and know you are a part of helping this gal get to where she wants to be, the top of the charts!!

A few quick notes: We only have 30 short days to meet our goal of $15,000 so PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD!!!!! NONE of the funding goes through unless we raise the entire $15,000. If each of my facebook (16,000+) fans donate a small amount we can do this in no time! Any money raised over the $15,000 will go directly to the cost of printing/touring/marketing the record.

So DEE TEAM: Dig into your pocketbooks (or man purses) and LET’S DO THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!

XOXO

Ali Dee

[Ali Dee on Kickstarter]

Orange County, California is known as a hotbed of athletic talent.  The region produces some of the world’s best professional athletes from baseball, basketball, football, softball to water polo.  But what you might not know is that Orange County is a hotbed of dance talent as well.  The area has a number of dance studios that feed local colleges and universities, which in turn serve as feeder programs to professional cheerleading and dance teams.  And one of the newest professional squads is the Anaheim Bolts Dance Team.

The Anaheim Bolts are a professional soccer team that plays in the Premier Arena Soccer League (PASL).  In their first year of operation, the Anaheim Bolts wisely chose to field a dance team, mining the talent rich area to fill out their roster of beautiful and talented dancers.  I was fortunate enough to attend last Sunday’s season ending game to photograph the Anaheim Bolts Dance Team.

Let me say, that my first impression of this team was amazing.  These girls are very beautiful…as is customary with professional cheerleaders…but I got a chance to talk to most of the girls and they’re really nice as well.  That is to say that they are not only good looking, but women of substance as well.  Well rounded and well spoken, these girls are excellent representatives of the organization because they are not only great dancers, but a vital component in reaching out to the community and marketing the team.

Continue reading Shock and Awe: The Anaheim Bolts Dance Team

Point Park Globe
February 21, 2012

Three Point Park University dance majors have earned a spot on the official dance team of Pittsburgh’s new arena football team, the Pittsburgh Power. As members of “The Sparks,” the girls will show off their moves at Pittsburgh Power home games, as well as at various promotional events in the area.

“It was a new thing coming out in Pittsburgh, and I wanted to be part of something new,” sophomore dance major Sam Elliot, a veteran Spark and co-captain going into her second season with the team, said about getting involved. “It involved dance, of course, which is my passion. After doing it, I learned it was so much fun. The fans are crazy.”

Sophomore dance major and veteran Spark Meghan Manning agreed. Last year, she learned about the team tryouts from her high school science teacher.

“The [minimum] age is 18, and I had just turned 18, so I felt like I had to try out,” she said.”After I auditioned, there was a second day of auditions, and I told my friends about it. When we made it, we decided to give it a try, and it was really fun.”

Rudy Hazen, a freshman dance major and Sparks rookie, was inspired to try out after attending a Pittsburgh Power game during her senior year of high school.

“I went to a game and it was so fun,” she said. “It’s a way to get a performance opportunity.”

Meghan, Rudy, and Sam

The girls earned their spot on the team through multiple auditions. “There was a preliminary where we had to learn a hip hop combination and a jazz combination, then we had a regular audition where they made cuts,” Hazen said. “If you got through the preliminaries, then you had to do the finals.”

The final round was held at Mullen’s Bar in the North Side, and the girls performed in front of a panel of judges.

According to Manning, the auditions were “less scary than last year, because I have done it before. They were a lot of fun. I thought there was more talent this year, since more people knew about it.”

The team entertains the fans during Power games by dancing on both the sidelines and midfield. Their sideline routines, called “numbers and letters,” are performed with poms during each quarter of the game. Then, in between the quarters, the girls run out to midfield and perform a full dance routine, called a “quarter break.”

According to Elliot, the Power fans are what make the experience fun.

“It’s a lot different than regular football because it’s indoors and the fans are closer to you and they can interact more,” she said.

With a fairly large span of ages and backgrounds, the team members make time to get to know each other and bond.

“We just became a new team, so half of us are veterans and half of us are rookies,”Elliot said. “But we are definitely trying to make the team dynamic a lot closer than it was last year, because a lot of us didn’t know each other last year, with the different schools.”

The team has dinners together and, recently, took a bowling trip together.

“Since practice has started, we’re bonding more,” Hazen said.

As with any team, the Sparks have certain rules and standards guiding behavior.

“We have to be presentable at all times, even when we’re not in costume,” Hazen said.

The girls also are told to watch what they post online and to be friendly to everyone, even outside of the Power games. Elliot explained that the rules are in place “because people do recognize us and watch us and see us, and we don’t need a bad reputation.”

The Point Park girls light up the field at the first Pittsburgh Power home game of the season on March 23 at 8 p.m.

Technology strikes again!

It has come to our attention that there is a problem with our email accounts James[at]procheerleaderblog.com and sasha[at]procheerleaderblog.com. We are receiving some, but not all of the emails being sent to those addresses.

This has most likely been going on for a few weeks, and we’re just now putting two and two together. There appears to be no rhyme or reason as to which emails get through to us and which ones don’t. So if you’ve emailed us in the past few weeks and received no response, it’s probably because your email fell down the rabbit hole and we never received it.

We are getting ahold of Yahoo Business to troubleshoot the issue. However, in the meantime, if you need to reach either of us about something that is time-sensitive, please leave a comment for any post on this site. We have to approve all comments before they become public, so we will definitely see it. (And please note if it is a public comment, or a private question/comment for our eyes only.)

We are very sorry for any inconvenience/misscommunications this may have caused (as well as feelings of intense anger from being blown off by us!) We’re working to fix it ASAP.