The Orlando Magic Dancers and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Cheerleaders made a joint appearance at ESPN: The Weekend, last month. And the FOX Orlando TV affiliate has quite a few photos of the two squads.

[Bucs Cheerleaders and Magic Dancers Gallery]

Hurray! Profiles and photos are now online for the Orlando Magic Dancers! Click here to read up on them!
I’d also like to take a moment to give two snaps up to the Magic Dancers Manager, Jeanine Klem-Thomas, because those new dresses are super cute. Love love love the ruffles.

This week the Orlando Magic Dancers are featured at Maxim.

And best of luck to 5-year veteran Christy who has just been cast as a singer/dancer in the 2010 FMA Live Tour!

[Magic Dancers at Maxim]

[Orlando Magic Dancers Website]

[Megan Clementi's Miss Florida USA Blog]

By Seth Berkman
(Hoop Magazine Jan-Feb Issue) NBA.com

Like the players, do the dancers have a training camp?
We start at the beginning of September. It’s always fun to start off the year, especially with the new girls. You don’t really know everybody yet and it’s an exciting time.

How many years have you been dancing with the Magic?
This is my fifth season with the Magic.

Do you embrace taking on a leadership role with the squad?
I am a Leo so I think leadership has always been a personality trait. [laughs] I’ve done this for so long that it’s sort of natural. I love when the girls have questions, especially if it’s their first season and they don’t know how games work or rehearsals usually run, it’s nice to be able to help out.

And you’ve danced with other teams as well?
Yes, this is actually my third team in the NBA. I danced with the Cavs—I’m originally from Cleveland so I danced with the Cavs in college—the Atlanta Hawks and then I moved down here [to Orlando]. I just keep moving south apparently because it’s not warm enough for me anywhere. [laughs]

Was it hard for you last season during the playoffs when Orlando played Cleveland?
[laughs] It was probably harder for my father than anyone [else]. …I had a feeling if we got through Boston it would be us in the Finals. My dad loved to argue with that. It wasn’t hard for me, my poor mom was stuck in the middle of it. It was kind of fun, the camaraderie. My dad would send e-mails to all the girls like, “Big game tonight, try not to get too excited.” It was cute.

How different was it performing in the Finals as opposed to the regular season?
It was huge. I had never been to the playoffs until I danced with the Magic. My first season down here we went and every year we got better. I don’t have words to explain what it is like dancing in the Finals. It’s packed, it’s intense, people are crazy…it was awesome. It was the most surreal experience I’ve ever had. Dwight [Howard] and Jameer [Nelson] stayed out for the trophy ceremony and I loved that. I hope it shows them to be hungrier and want it more.

In the WNBA and with the NBA practice uniforms they’ve started selling sponsorships; do you think that will happen soon with dance teams?
I think they already do somewhat. I personally wouldn’t be opposed to it as long as it was a sponsorship that went along with the ideas of the organization and helped benefit the team. They do that with the soccer uniforms in Europe. If it’s a good way to make more money and help everyone out in the long run, why not?

Having danced for three teams, do you find a lot of differences between each team’s routines and how they’re run?
I think the organizations are all entirely different. The actual routines that we do—there’s a thing called Pro Dance that a lot of teams go to and it’s in the summer and you’ll pick up a lot of choreography from that. It’s funny, when I started dancing for the Magic, they were like we’re gonna bring this dance back from last year and I thought “This looks really familiar,” and I had done it in Atlanta. Most teams will have their own choreographer that they will bring in. I would say the biggest difference is the organization and how they choose to run each team.

Besides dancing, you also work for Clear Channel?
I am a key account coordinator, which basically means all the advertising business that comes out of South Florida, I am the coordinator that handles all that business. I don’t sell, but I coordinate and make sure that everything is in and all the loose ends are tied up.

Is that what you studied in college and want to continue to pursue after dancing?
I was a marketing major. I don’t really know what I want to do after I’m done dancing. I love my job. I kind of like seeing what happens. I like enjoying life as it comes and one day at a time. …I think I’ve danced for so long that without it I would almost be lost. I would have way too much free time and not know what to do with myself. A lot of girls will just hit a point when they feel it’s time to move on. I have not really had that. Everything has kind of fallen into place where I have been able to keep doing this.

How old were you when you began taking dance classes?
I was three or four. It would give my mom an hour to go to the grocery store and run errands that she needed to. I think that it’s so funny that that’s what she chose to be her “babysitter.” [laughs] We joke about how she says she should have put me in a foreign language class or something like that.

Do you have any favorite routines or songs?
Something that always gets me is introductions, when the lights go down and they’re getting ready to announce our starting lineup. Moments like that I look around and I cannot believe that this is my job.

Since you first started dancing in the NBA, have you seen the exposure of dance teams grow?
Absolutely. When I was in Cleveland around ’01-02, we weren’t really accessible. We danced during games and maybe did a few appearances here and there. Now we have so many community appearances, we greet the fans at the doors, we do postgame autographs and photos, dance clinics, all these things for the community and I think the teams are really using the dance teams to their full potential. It’s hard to get players out with their schedule, but it’s easier to get dancers out, so we’re kind of the front line for the organization. It’s really rewarding.

[Danielle at the Magic Website]

By Deborah Circelli
News-Journal Online.com

Barely able to make her way up the sidewalk into the entrance of the STAR Family shelter, Miss Florida USA was surrounded by elementary school girls touching her beaded white and black bracelet and long necklace.

Once inside the homeless shelter off North and Segrave streets, Megan Clementi slipped on her sash and crown and was ready to hand out presents to close to 50 children.

Megan dunks during last year’s NBA Finals

Clementi, 26, a recent graduate of the University of Central Florida, joined Daytona Beach Fire Department officials and volunteers from God’s Willing Workers as children filled a room in the shelter, each picking out a couple of toys and a stuffed animal.

“It’s so much fun. I feel like Santa Claus,” said Clementi, after picking out a doll for Jasmine Coleman, 2.

Lisa Marie Kieffer said the toys made her two children’s Christmas come true. Her 11-year old daughter, Lily Gutman, spent a lot of time in the room trying to pick out the right two toys. She finally settled on a doll and a small stuffed animal dog. They’ve lived at the shelter for two months after coming here from Sarasota. Kieffer is planning to start classes at a truck driving school in February.

“God bless everybody who came here and donated,” Kieffer said. “It’s good for the children to feel that people care.”

Toys were donated from many sources, including “Our” Children First and the Fire Department, which stepped up and got extra toys from Port Orange Fire Rescue and the Daytona Beach Police Department.

Event organizer Verlinda Johnson, 61, founder and director of God’s Willing Workers, who gave out toys last year at the shelter, was thrilled that other organizations helped, as well as some area stores.

“My Christmas is to put a smile on the face of a child, especially those who are homeless,” Johnson said. “I want them to see real love today.”

Clementi was named Miss Florida USA 2010 in July and will compete in Miss USA in April. She said her platform is centered around children. The Orlando resident heard about the homeless shelter from a friend in the area and wanted to “give some amazing kids some presents.”

She also volunteered to feed the homeless on Thanksgiving Day with the Salvation Army in Daytona Beach. She hopes to raise awareness for philanthropic organizations and encourage volunteerism.

The former Orlando Magic Dancer of five years and captain for three is still involved in helping to emcee the home games. After being at the shelter, she was headed to the game Wednesday night against the Houston Rockets.

The children also met Tia McDonald, 16, of Edgewater, who has won numerous titles including Miss Florida Junior National Teenager and Miss Space Coast Teen USA. McDonald went to the shelter last year to give the children toys and organized an Easter Egg hunt.

McDonald said she’s been through hard times, losing her house to a fire when she was little and being raised by a single mom, and she thinks “it’s important to help those in need.”

Some of the girls were fascinated by their crowns and said they can dance and sing and want to be in a pageant one day.

“I love watching pageants,” said Jelea Singleton, 11, who recently organized a talent show at the shelter. “I want to be in one — any one that I can win at.”

New wallpapers for the 2009-10 Orlando Magic dancers are now online. Click here to see who is on the team!

This episode of On The Flipside features former Orlando Magic Dancer Captain (and current Miss Florida USA) Megan Clementi.

By Matthew Desousa
The Minaret

On a hot, end-of-summer Saturday afternoon, Hope Donnelly, the new Head Cheerleading Coach for The University of Tampa, completed the third and final day of tryouts with candidates in a chilly Cass Gymnasium.
Pleased with the strong turnout of almost 50 candidates for an approximately 18 member squad, Coach Donnelly was impressed with the core skill levels present in the candidates.

Hope cheered for the Buccaneers the year they won the Super Bowl.

Many had been all-star cheerleaders, with a diverse background in dance, from high school and other colleges. Others brought technically advanced skills from gymnastics.
Also having to compete for the limited roster positions were 11 returning veterans.

Although no minimum requirements existed for entrance to the tryouts, each of the three mandatory days became progressively advanced for student evaluations.
Performances in basic spirit displays and entertainment of chants and jumping began each day, with additional tests of tumbling and stunting introduced in the second and third days.
No matter what skills an individual begins the squad with, Donnelly noted that a set goal for each member would be to perform a standing backhand spring.
“They’ve all worked really hard and showed their commitment to the team, so we’re really going to have a great group,” said Donnelly of the candidates she has evaluated.
At the time of the interview 36 students were remaining in contention, with the final team roster to be determined by Sept. 21.
Donnelly is the only UT staff member instructing the team, but has the aid of three student leaders on the team.
Two are returning veterans and the third to be determined at a later time.

Swimsuit Photo from the Tampa Bay Lightning

After a respectable professional background in performance, Donnelly returns to collegiate cheerleading in her first season as a coach.
A dancer since the age of three, the Panama City Beach native started organized cheerleading at seven and continued throughout high school and college.
As a co-captain of the Eckerd College cheerleading team, a fellow member of UT’s conference, she went semi-professional in her last year in attendance and performed as a captain of the Tampa Bay Storm’s cheering squad.
After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in psychology and visual art, she expanded her professional career with seasons cheering for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Orlando Magic and the Tampa Bay Lightning.
With the Lightning, she achieved the position of Entertainment Manager for the St. Petersburg Times Forum and spent the past four years improving the fan experience. Some of which are noted in her UT Athletics web site profile.

Hope with the Orlando Magic Dancers

Gil Swalls, UT’s Associate Athletic Director, said that Donnelly possesses “an excellent combination of previous cheerleading experience, both in our [Sunshine State] conference and as a professional; she had the best experience for our needs.”
For her future plans Donnelly said, “fans at games are going to notice an increased level of interaction and the entertainment value the team brings.”
She also expressed an interest in possibly having the team formally compete in the upcoming spring season of cheering events.

From the Orlando Magic Dancers’ Twitter Feed:

Don’t think I ever told u all where Trinity was going this yr! She’s now a WWE Diva Wrestler! Starts training on Mon! Coach J

Top Row, L to R: Christy, Virgilia, Jenna S., Lacey, Danielle, Ashton, Kendra, Nicole, Tara, Nina, Jenna H.
Bottom Row, L to R: Kari, Heather, Kelly, Erin, Victoria, Krizia, Ashley, Rachael, Alexandra

More photos here.