By Chris R. Vaccaro
< "http://sachem.patch.com/articles/former-new-jersey-nets-dancer-taylor-walker-starts-teaching-career-at-sachem-this-fall">Sachem Patch
August 21, 2010

With the approval of Taylor Walker as a physical education teacher at Sachem High School North this week, not since, well, ever has the Sachem Central School District landed such a high profile faculty member.

A professional dancer, dance educator, free-lance broadcaster and physical fitness fanatic, Walker, 25, comes to Sachem this fall for her first high school teaching gig.

She grew up in Dix Hills, attended Half Hollow Hills West High School and recalls the days when her Colts dance team matched up against Sachem’s girls at competitions.

“We were a much smaller school and to see a team of that caliber every year be so strong with so many girls was neat,” she said. “They’re very into their community and their program and it’s a lot like a family.”

With the hire, Sachem gains an individual with a multi-faceted core, one with the development of growing up the child of a professional athlete. Her father, Wesley Walker, is a former two-time Pro Bowl receiver for the New York Jets, who ranks sixth all-time in franchise history in receptions.

Then there’s her brothers: Austin is a professional lacrosse player for the Toronto Nationals, who won a national title at Johns Hopkins, and John, a three-time All-American at Army, is an assistant lacrosse coach at the University of Virginia.

“We’ve all given 100 percent and followed through on what we love,” said Walker, who is trained in ballet, jazz, modern and hip-hop dance. “I don’t think we ever compared ourselves as much as we supported each other.”

It’s only natural that Taylor followed the athletic footprint of the Walker family and embarked on her own career in the fitness world. For two seasons she was a member of the New Jersey Nets dance team and was a co-captain for half a season before giving up the role to concentrate on earning her Master’s Degree in physical education from Hofstra University, where she is an assistant coach on the school’s dance team.

“It was a wonderful experience and the girls on the team were so talented,” she said. “I had such a great time.”

She was one of 10 dancers from the NBA selected to pose for Sports Illustrated’s coveted Swimsuit Edition in 2009. Her good fortune struck again when she was able to dance for Taylor Swift at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, as well as appear as the lead dancer in the movie Step Up and in commercials for Under Armour.

To think, she once worked as an intern for the Maryland State Senate after college and was hired in the first dance audition she ever attended. She did her undergraduate work in sports management at Towson University and earned a full-ride as a member of its dance team.

A go-getter at heart, Walker has spent time instructing at Royalenova in East Moriches, teaching with Dance Educators for America and pitching in at a local high school sports publication, doing broadcast pieces on the younger generation.

While more than qualified to coach and teach dance to high school girls, she has no intentions of messing with team chemistry at Sachem. Instead, she’ll be there for support if it’s needed.

“If I can ever give input or anything like that I’ll be there,” she said. “The program has been so successful for so many years. I look forward to seeing them at games and having them in class.

“It took me a while to get to this point, but everything I’ve done throughout my career has always come back to the kids.”

One of the coolest people I’ve met while running this blog is Nets Entertainment Manager Kimberlee Garris. So I’m really thrilled to learn she got married this past Friday. Here’s the announcement from the New York Times:

By Vincent Mallozzi
New York Times

Kimberlee Rose Garris and Terence Michael Minogue were married Friday at Oceancliff, a resort in Newport, R.I. The Rev. Cheryl Cavalconte, an Apostolic Catholic priest, performed the ceremony, with the Rev. Charles C. Cavalconte, her husband, taking part.

The bride, 31, is the entertainment manager for the New Jersey Nets of the National Basketball Association; she oversees the rehearsals and on-court performances of more than 70 dancers, gymnasts and other entertainers. From 2003 to 2005, she performed as a New York Knicks City Dancer. She graduated summa cum laude from Harvard.

She is the daughter of Joan Garris of Pompton Plains, N.J., and Ivan Garris of Chesterfield, Va.

The bridegroom, 32, is a creative director for Spike TV, a division of MTV Networks. He manages a team of writers and producers and is responsible for creative and brand marketing for the network. He graduated cum laude from Syracuse University.

He is a son of Catherine and Richard Minogue of Medford, Mass.

The couple met in May 2003, through their respective roommates, at a bar in the East Village.

“He had the bluest eyes I had ever seen,” Ms. Garris recalled. “He also had a passion for travel and a great sense of humor, but we were both seeing other people at the time.”

In late December of that year, Ms. Garris, dressed in a Mrs. Claus outfit, was performing during a Knicks-Celtics game at Madison Square Garden. At halftime, she made her way to an area of the concourse to take part in a charity event and was surprised to see Mr. Minogue standing there.

“I had butterflies in my stomach,” she said. “I was fixated on talking to him.”

Mr. Minogue had felt much the same way and had gone to the Garden hoping to see Ms. Garris more than his beloved Celtics. “I could tell she was sort of mortified to see me because she was in that Mrs. Claus outfit, but she looked adorable,” he said. “I approached cautiously because I had no idea if she had any interest in me.”

They reconnected after the holidays, each bringing the other the same bit of news: they were now unattached.

In early January 2004, they went on their first official date, to a wine bar on the Upper East Side.

“There was just this total chemistry, and I was thinking to myself, ‘This is the guy, I know that this is the guy,’ ” Ms. Garris said.

They began dating steadily, and Mr. Minogue proposed in March 2009, in Washington Square Park. On bended knee, he presented the ring, and she began crying. But the moment was interrupted, Mr. Minogue said, by a man sitting in the park, reeking of alcohol, who began shouting to Ms. Garris, “Say yes, say yes!”

The bridegroom added, “It was one of those classic New York moments. But it was our moment, one we’ll never forget.”

Watch a video of Kim and Terry here.

Congratulations Kim and Terry!

After Open Call Auditions in the City on June 19th, the action shifted to Rutherford, NJ where the Nets Dancers Final Auditions were held on the evening of June 21st.

The Nets Dancers Auditions were sponsored by Sensible Portions.

The choreography was taught by Luam.

Continue reading Nets Dancers Final Auditions

A visit to the New Jersey Nets dancer auditions.
by Kyle Stack / @NYsportswriter
Slam Online
June 25, 2010

There might not be a better way to spend a Saturday morning than with hundreds of beautiful, athletic women — all of whom are wearing form-fitting clothes. That was exactly what I did last Saturday as the New Jersey Nets held auditions for the 2010-11 Nets Dancers.

Kimberlee Garris, Entertainment Manager for the Nets, fielded more than 300 women at a dance studio on the Upper West Side. They competed in a series of dance exercises that day in order to earn a second audition last Monday. The final team is comprised of 16 dancers who do more than just perform during Nets games. They make public appearances around the Tri-State area, appear on TV and print advertisements and even travel around the world to visit the NBA and Nets fans.

I had a wild idea to quiz many of the auditioning dancers on a series of Nets trivia questions, from who the team’s two first overall draft picks have been (Derrick Coleman, Kenyon Martin) to owner Mikhail Prokhorov’s net worth according to Forbes (13.4 billion) to head coach Avery Johnson’s nickname when he played in the NBA (Little General). While the ladies did answer some of the questions correctly, it was a project better suited for cameras rather than a tape recorder.

What I was able to capture was an interview with Garris, who does a lot more for Nets entertainment than hand-picking the future Nets Dancers:

SLAM: What technical skills are you looking for from the dancers?
Kimberlee Garris: The first thing we do is put them through a technique audition. We look for pirouettes, bahtmas [I think he means battements], leaps…kicks, leaps and turns in layman’s terms. We have to see if they have some ballet and jazz training. Once we get through that cut, we take them into hip-hop, where they have a little more fun and hit a little harder. The basis is definitely dance technique because everybody on the team is a technically-trained dancer. They’re not cheerleaders; they’re not using poms. They’re dancing, doing jazz, hip-hop, Broadway, Latin, salsa, the whole works.

SLAM: They just need an all-around knowledge of dance.
KG: They do. They need to be versatile because we like to do something new.

SLAM: You do a lot of choreographed dances, right? So they have to memorize moves?
KG: Definitely. The first round, we’re looking at technique. The second round, we’re teaching them a real piece of choreography that the dancers did this season. And then they’ll perform it in groups of three. So we’re looking to see how quickly they get the style, their performance quality. Obviously, they need to perform for 20,000 fans so they need to have a great look and great energy and showmanship.

SLAM: Since the dance team veterans are also competing for spots on next season’s team, are they willing to help some of the new dancers trying out?
KG: We did a boot camp at our practice facility in preparation for this week and three of our veterans did some of the teaching. It’s important to them to have the best team possible so they’re willing to teach. When it comes to competing against each other, they’re going to bring their ‘A’ game.

SLAM: Should these auditions be on TV?
KG: You know, it is pretty exciting. It’s definitely dramatic. There are definitely tears. The first round happens so quickly so they dance for me for 20 seconds and they either get asked to stay or get cut. So that can be dramatic.

SLAM: What are their other responsibilities off the court?
KG: They do a ton of appearances throughout the Tri-State area. They’re really ambassadors of the Nets and the NBA. They’ve recently been to the Phillippines, [South] Korea, China, Singapore, so they need to be able to go out and teach dance clinics to kids all over the world, perform and give a taste of the NBA. Their role is important. They need to be well-spoken. We do an interview process to make sure they can represent us properly.

SLAM: What other entertainment teams will there be for the Nets next season?
KG: We have about 70 performers that we will bring back — Nets kids, Nets Sensational Seniors, who are 60-and-over hip-hop dancers, Team Hype (co-ed cheerleading and stunts), Sly, Mini-Sly, a drumline. You’ll see all of that over at Prudential Center. But we’re spending a summer learning new skills. We have Dunking Divas, they’re working all summer long. So there’ll be some surprises but we’ll continue to have about 70 people out there.

SLAM: It seems like a lot to manage.
KG: It is. It’s a hustle but everyone loves what they do so we’re happy to do it.

And after auditions were completed, here are the 2010-11 Nets Dancers…

(click to enlarge)

Congratulations to the 2010-11 Nets Dancers! The Final Auditions were held Monday night at the Nets Training Facility in Rutherford. Photos are coming soon, and let me just say that these ladies really put the “Dance” in Nets Dancers.

Open Call Auditions for the 2010-11 Nets Dancers took place on Saturday in the city. The Daily News has a few shots of some of the hopefuls in action. Finals are tonight.

[Daily News Nets Dancers Auditions]

Click to enlarge

When the NBA Nation tour comes to your town this summer be  on the look out for Former Nets Dancer Jaclyn who will be emceeing the all the fun and activities!

[NBA Nation]

[Jac of All Nets on Twitter]