Hartford Colonials Cheerleader Auditions at CT National Guard Armory

2011 Patriots Pro Bowl Cheerleader at Colonials Cheerleader Director Brittany Bonchuk

19 advance to finals; second round of auditions is May 7 in Hartford

A spacious room at the Connecticut National Guard armory in Southington was deployed as a dance stage for a group of energetic ladies on Saturday, April 30, as the first round of preliminary auditions were held for the 2011 Hartford Colonials cheerleading squad.

“We’re really appreciative to the military and Connecticut National Guard for providing us with a facility and allowing us to be here today,” said Colonials cheerleader director Brittany Bonchuk, who visited U.S. troops overseas in 2009 as a New England Patriots Cheerleader.

Bonchuk, a Griswold, CT native, and a panel of five judges evaluated the participants on physical appearance, dance performance and ability, and overall appeal. Each had to perform a 1-minute dance routine that was filmed by Colonials cheerleader assistant director Laura Altieri.

At the conclusion of the auditions, 19 women were informed they had advanced to the finals on May 21. A second round of auditions will be held May 7 at the State Armory in Hartford. Registration begins at 8 a.m. with auditions to follow. A $15 non-refundable registration fee is required for both sessions. Participants can pre-register for $10 on-line at www.hartfordcolonials.com.

“I was pretty impressed with the people who turned out for the auditions today,” Bonchuk said Saturday. “A lot of really excited women came out, as well as some big Colonials fans. I hope our turnout next week will be a little bit better, but those who came out today were really talented. I’m really excited to see what next week will bring, and we’ll get rolling from there. We have a good start.”

The day started with a brief warm-up period, followed by Bonchuk teaching a dance routine the participants would have to perform for their audition. After the judges were introduced, the competition began.

Performing in pairs, the women did a 60-second dance routine to “On The Floor” by Jennifer Lopez and featuring rapper Pitbull. The first 45-50 seconds was the routine they were taught and the final 15 seconds was freestyle.

“I think it went really well,” said judge Alyssa Ziemba, a Boston Celtics dancer. “We were commenting the girls had so much energy. We enjoyed it.”

Seven cheerleaders from the 2010 squad participated in Saturday’s audition. More are expected at the May 7th auditions in Hartford.

The cheerleader squad will consist of 32 members who will perform at the Colonials home games this season and make promotional appearances in the community.

“It was a fun experience,” Ashley Abate said. “The thrill of going out on the field for the first time, everybody was excited. By the end of the season, we had our own fans. I would recommend everybody to try out. You make friends and it was a lot of fun.”

Bonchuk will discuss the cheerleading auditions on two television shows in the next week. She will appear on the FOX CT morning show Wednesday along with three cheerleaders. On Thursday, she’ll be a guest on Channel 3’s “Better Connecticut” with co-hosts Kara Sundlun and Scot Haney.