Photos of the Year – December 29

Between Christmas and New Year’s we are showcasing the year’s favorite photos from our contributors.

When we were asked to provide a favorite photo from 2012, my general instinct is to ask for scoring criteria with a tie-breaking algorithm to quantify it. Kind of like BCS standings for my photos. But I resisted the temptation and went with my most memorable photo by far this year. Some of the indoor football Bloomington Edge Dance Team posing with the halftime entertainment: monkeys riding dogs that rounded up sheep. Pro cheer, no matter what level of sport, is about the fan entertainment experience, and this was one memorable thing to behold. So here is Edge Dance Team coach Stacy Terry, Lauren, Alice, and Jess posing with the entertainment prior to halftime.

Thanks to all the cheer directors, cheerleaders, dancers, and media people who went out of their way to help me out in 2012!

In her seventh season, Bloomington Edge Dancer Alice steps up to the mike….

Alice now is the in-game host for both the Bloomington Edge and Central Illinois Drive hoops team

…or maybe more accurately, Alice steps upstairs with a mike. The Bloomington Edge Dance Team’s Alice is in her seventh season with the squad that performs at the Indoor Football League games, but 2012 has hardly been just another season for her. Since Alice was featured in UltimateCheerleaders last season, there have been some notable additions to her roles on and off the field. Off the field Alice is all done with school and is working at one of the local prominent health systems.

But Alice’s pro dance world is increasing its scope also. When the new owners puchased the former Bloomington Extreme, not only did they change the name to Edge, a Premier Basketball League team, the Central Illinois Drive, was added to the Bloomington sports scene. Before their season started, the Drive approached Edge Dance Team Coordinator Stacy Terry to create a dance squad for their in-game entertainment. So for Alice, adding another dance team? No problem! When Stacy approached the football dance team about joining the basketball version, Alice recalled their answer, “Of course we said, ‘Yep! We’ll do it!’” Compared to the Edge games, the Drive basketball Dance Team, Alice says, “We do more, I would say, pom and jazz than usual.”

Alice on the sidelines of a Central Illinois Drive game

Plus, for both the Drive and Edge, Alice is the announcer during in-game promotions. Going from the sidelines, Alice grabs a microphone and hits the stairs, heading up to the arena to be in the spotlight as she engages with lucky fans. “It’s exciting, I like doing it!” Alice says. And always immensely friendly and thoughtful to the fans, Alice even makes fans a priority when assessing her new role. About being in-game announcer, Alice comments, “I love it, I get to know the fans. In basketball, we don’t go (onto the court) after the games and interact with the fans, like we do with football, and so we really don’t get to know them. Now I get to go up there and meet some of them, I enjoy it a lot.”

Alice is devoted to dance in general, and loves having the opportunity to continue to perform with two Bloomington-based teams, and she has no plans to give it up. Alice smiles, “I am going to be here until they don’t take me or I can’t do it.” Asked if fans recognize her after seven seasons greeting and performing before, during, and after games, Alice says she hears, “‘You’re still here?’ Yep, still here. Hopefully that is a good thing.”

Alice is ready as fans ready to enter the doors prior to an Edge game

Continue reading “In her seventh season, Bloomington Edge Dancer Alice steps up to the mike….”

Bloomington Edge Dancer Rachel lives, and gives, a life of music

Rachel dances on the basketball court for the Central Illinois Drive Dance Team

As a musical director at an elementary school, Rachel utilizes the “Orff Schulwerk” method, which combines music, movement, drama, and speech into lessons that are similar to a child’s world of play. Rachel not only teaches this unified view of arts and life, she lives life with an “Orff Schulwerk” approach! With a degree in voice, playing guitar and piano, and having lead roles in plays, Rachel has added dancing for the IFL Bloomington Edge and PBL Central Illinois Drive Dance Teams to complete her own life of music. Singing, dancing, acting, teaching, and being a wife and mom to a little boy seem like way enough, but luckily for Bloomington’s indoor football and basketball fans, Rachel also takes her talents to pro cheer/dance. Rachel shared with UltimateCheerleaders parts of her musical life’s journey, including how performing in a play staged next to a zoo can provide unexpected sensory experiences, and why you might want to give her a call if you are planning a wedding.

Rachel is an Illinois native, as she recalls, “I grew up out in the country about forty-five minutes from the Bloomington area, in a small town called Fairbury. We had livestock when I was a kid, so I spent a lot of time out playing in the barn and with the animals.”

The animals probably heard some singing along the way, as music surrounded much of Rachel’s young life, as she remembers, “My mom plays the piano for church and my aunt sings with a small women’s group, as well as plays the piano. My mom worked Saturdays when I was growing up, so we used to go down to my grandma’s. She had a piano, so I would get out my mom’s and aunt’s old piano books and give little concerts in my grandma’s living room. I guess I was a self-inspired musician. The piano always interested me, the same with singing. I didn’t really go any further with singing until I was in Junior High. Then I joined chorus and did solo & ensemble. I think that was when my interest went more towards singing.”

While she was growing up, Rachel’s family dealt with the challenges of a caring for a loved one that required extensive attention. “I had one other sibling, Megan, who was born with a rare genetic disorder,” Rachel explains. “She was pretty much an infant her entire life. She could never walk or talk or do much on her own. In a sense, I was an only child, not that I didn’t have a sibling, but I never was able to do the things that most siblings get to do because her of disability. My parents spent much of their time taking care of my sister. My parents both loved me and I think that much of my independence as an adult comes from that experience as a child. She passed away when I was in eighth grade.”

But music provided Rachel an outlet for performance and creativity, and the life lessons to learn from mistakes, for instance in her first public singing performance. “In seventh grade I performed ‘Baby Mine’ from ‘Dumbo’ at Solo & Ensemble. I messed up the words and ended up getting a second place. I was really mad at myself for doing that. I don’t think I ever messed up any words after that.”

Rachel’s singing continued as she participated in various groups during high school in addition to her church choir. Rachel studied at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign, and sang with the University Singers, University Choir, and Women’s Glee Club, prior to graduating with a bachelor’s degree in vocal music education.

Rachel’s musical talents also include playing piano and guitar, and applying her singing talents to the stage. “I took piano lessons starting in second or third grade,” explains Rachel. “I am an adequate piano player, but I guess my real passion is for singing. I did five musicals when I was in school: ‘Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat,’ a dancer in ‘Little Shop of Horrors,’ Marty in ‘Grease,’ Sprintze in ‘Fiddler on the Roof,’ and my senior year, I was the Evil Step Mother in ‘Cinderella.’ I never really had any major rolls until I was an adult.”

“After college I was Peter Pan in ‘Peter Pan,’ Maria in ‘West Side Story,’ and Mrs. MacAfee in ‘Bye Bye Birdie,’” Rachel continues. “The funny part about that is first I did ‘West Side Story’ in 2007, and my leading man was a senior in high school, and I was 24 at the time. The worst part of it was that his dad was the director. It was kind of awkward kissing him. The weird part of it is that when I did ‘Bye Bye Birdie,’ the dad was my ‘husband,’ playing Mr. MacAfee.”

So Rachel, when playing Peter Pan, did you get to soar over the stage? “Ha,” laughs Rachel. “No, I actually wore ‘wheelies,’ the tennis shoes that have the wheels in the back of them. The theatre is basically a garage on a big cement platform, so there are very limited special effects. It was outdoors and by the zoo. It was very hot during our performances, and if the wind was just right, you got a great whiff of the animals at the zoo.”

Continue reading “Bloomington Edge Dancer Rachel lives, and gives, a life of music”

“Let’s dance two!”: With Drive and an Edge, Bloomington dancers complete “unique” double-header

Stacy Terry and her Bloomington Edge Dance Team hang out with other performers prior to a halftime extravaganza

Dancing and cheering for two games on a Saturday is quite a feat, but throw in a previous Friday night game, and you have one dance-tastic marathon. So after dancing for THREE games in a just over a 24 hour period, the loved ones of the dancers for both indoor football’s Bloomington Edge and the Central Illinois Drive hoops team probably expected them to be more than a bit tired after the third game. And when the dancers arrived home and said that the halftime entertainment included monkeys riding dogs, their families probably thought some extended bed rest was in order. When the dancers completed the entire halftime description, “Monkeys riding dogs while herding sheep into a pen,” their loved ones must have considered reaching for the phone to determine the feasibility of hospitalization for exhaustion. But fear not; yes, the halftime of the evening’s Bloomington Edge IFL game was as described. Monkeys riding dogs that were herding sheep into a pen.

During halftime of the afternoon Drive basketball game, the Drive dancers "got next" after the monkeys and dogs rode off into the sunset

But the more miraculous feat was that six dancers performed for a Drive game on Friday night, another Drive game on Saturday afternoon, and then an Edge game Saturday night. Whew! Let’s take a look at this unique double-header of dance.

The double-header came about because there are some new sports team owners in Bloomington, Illinois. Jim Morris and Scott Henderson not only purchased Bloomington’s IFL franchise during the off-season, they started a franchise in the Premier Basketball League (that just won the league championship, by the way), the Central Illinois Drive. Both teams play at Bloomington’s US Cellular Coliseum. So, if you buy a football team with a superb dance team in place with Bloomington dance legend Stacy Terry running things as Dance Team Coordinator, what would you do for your new hoops team? Have Stacy create a dance team for basketball’s Drive, of course!

Adding a dance team to the Drive seemed natural, since one of the owners had his kids in dance at Stacy’s studio for years. But things had to happen fast to get it done. “We had a real short turn around,” Stacy recalled. “We only had two weeks to do an audition and start.” Was Stacy surprised that many of the dancers for football’s Edge would also want to be part of the basketball squad? Stacy smiles, “No, I knew they were going to.”

Drive dancers Amy and Amber perform prior to the afternoon's basketball game

Prior to the afternoon basketball game, Amber and Jess explained why they wanted to be on the Drive dance team in addition to being veteran Edge dancers. Amber laughed, “Because we love it,” and Jess added, “And we love each other.” There is a lot of overlap of the two squads, but Caitlyn and Lauren are rookies and dance for the Edge football side only.

And if a pro dance double-header was not challenging enough, due to spring break schedules, some dancers were out of town. Therefore, the double-header dancers had to learn a lot of routines, but with changes as to who was where during the dances. This switching up of formations meant re-doing the same dances with different people, which Stacy said was the toughest part. Plus, this season, for both Drive and Edge games, the dancers are performing extended halftime routines, new from last season. Prior to the Saturday afternoon Drive game, Stacy said, “They might be a little slap happy by game time tonight.”

Rachel and Sarah were handing out Drive player collector cards prior to the game. Sarah is usually only on the Drive dance team, but was going to fill-in also during that night’s halftime performance at the Edge football game. Did it seem a lot to Rachel and Sarah to have two games in one day? Sarah replied, “Yes and no. It’s a lot of dances to keep sorted out, which one we are doing which time.” Rachel chimed in, “And which way we are doing it.” Sarah added, “But we have plenty of rehearsals, so we are ready.”

Jess performs during the Drive game

Amy, Rachel, Alice, Amber, and Sarah enter for halftime performance at the Drive game

Continue reading ““Let’s dance two!”: With Drive and an Edge, Bloomington dancers complete “unique” double-header”