Jets Flight Crew Auditions: Round One

The Ferguson Athletic Courts on the campus of Farleigh Dickinson University were the scene of the first two rounds of the 2009-10 New York Jets Flight Crew Auditions this past weekend.

Over 150 young ladies turned out for auditions. The vast majority were from the tri-state area, but there were a few hopefuls who came across the country and even overseas.

Ayae is from Osaka, Japan. Last season she cheered for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Julie is originally from Spain and danced for the af2 Norfolk Knighthawks.

Edwina is originally from Nigeria and came to the US when she was eight. She has danced for the af2 Albany Conquest and the CBA Albany Poltroons. She works in publishing.

You might think that having dancers from 4 continents at an audition is a record. As best I can tell it ties a record. For the at least the last three years the Redskins Cheerleaders have had squad members from Europe, Asia, Africa and North America. Does anyone know of a team (or an audition) with ladies from 5 continents?

Nicole, Jessica and Alyssa. Nicole was a Philadelphia Soulmate. Jessica and Alyssa were members of the New York Titans Dance Team, The Sirens.

You may remember Jeanine and Michelle from the NY Dragons Dance Team. Jeanine was also a dancer for the Sacramento Kings. She made both of these audition outfits.

Here’s the very cool Denise Garvey, the Jets Flight Crew Director. Denise has taken the squad from 10 ladies waving flags on the field and built a full-fledged NFL Cheerleading team. Last season the Flight Crew made their first military tour and appeared in Maxim. This season there will be a “Making of the squad” tv feature and possibly a calendar as well.

Denise is a former NJ Nets Dancer, Knicks City Dancer and Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader. In Dallas her director was Kelli Finglass. Denise says she considers Kelli much more than her director, but a mentor as well.

The reflections from the court produced some interesting effects for some photos.

Waiting her turn

Julie is a Civil Engineer and originally from North Carolina. She has her BSCE from UNC-Charlotte where she was on the university dance team.

Check out Casey’s Jets-green nail polish.

For the first round, candidates performed free-style for 90 seconds for the judges, and when they say free-style, anything goes.

A brief moment of levity among the tense auditions: there are two “Number 64s.”

Dana was Captain of the Lehigh University Dance Team where she will graduate this spring with a BS in Behavioral Neuroscience.

Deonna brought her poms.

Dancers eagerly await to hear their numbers called. In the end 73 dancers survived the first round cuts and were invited back for Sunday’s semi-final competition.

[Flight Crew Auditions Photos at Jets.com]

Photos from semi-finals are coming soon!