At 21, Madame Ant Melanie spices things up as the NBA D-League’s youngest dance team coach

The Fort Wayne Mad Ants of the NBA D-League have added a couple of very notable coaches this season. On the hoops side, March Madness legend Christian Laettner came to town as an assistant coach. But for the dance team, the Madame Ants did not have to look far to find the youngest dance coach in the NBA D-League. Madame Ant Melanie is coaching, performing, and generally leading the league in enthusiasm, all while being the league’s youngest dance coach at the age of 21. Melanie is in her fourth season with the Madame Ants, which are in their fifth season dancing for home games at Allen County’s War Memorial Coliseum. Melanie’s journey to her leadership role was facilitated by extraordinary role models, a lifelong love of dance and desire to teach others, academic training in Communications, and her devotion to and appreciation of two key attributes: Determination and passion. These traits triggered a journey in which Melanie went from having little interest in trying out for the Madame Ants to coaching the squad in four short years.

Melanie was born and raised in Indiana, though her family has East coast roots. Melanie recalls, “My mom is actually from the Bronx, and my dad is from Nutley, New Jersey, so my oldest sister is from out East, then they moved here to be near family. I am the first Hoosier in the house.”

Melanie’s personal dance journey began at age three. A self-described “typical studio kid,” Melanie started taking classes at the local Northeast School of Dance. But Melanie’s dance life took new directions as a student at Bishop Dwenger High School, dancing on a state champion hip hop team coached by Haley Heath-Wood, one of her key mentors. “Once I started learning from Haley,” Melanie explains, “She opened the world to me. At Dwanger, they are specifically hip hop, and I had more jazz and ballet over at Northeast. Completely changed my world. It changed how I performed, it changed how I wanted to look as a dancer, it changed how I wanted to convey a message through dance, and that was all because of Haley. And I think she knows that, but I don’t think she knows how MUCH I depend on her.”

Being part of her high school team provided Melanie the first chance to spend time at another studio that she always wanted to be part of, Tiffany Winling’s Tiffany and Co. Studio of Dance, which would years later also serve as a conduit to connect Melanie to the Madame Ants coaching position. Melanie had always desired dancing at Tiffany’s studio, saying, “I always wanted to go there, (and I’d tell my mom), ‘They are SO good! I want that, I want them to make me perfect. I want it!’ My mom would say, ‘No, we are not a competitive family. We are just doing it for fun.’ (I’d say), ‘Mom! Come on!’”

After high school, Melanie’s mom encouraged her to try-out for the Madame Ants after seeing their try-out information, but this time it was Melanie who resisted. “After I graduated high school,” Melanie recalls, “My mom said, ‘Why don’t you try out for this?’ At first, I was kind of iffy about it, I thought, ‘No, they are not good.’ But I had never seen them. I was 18, I was naïve, didn’t know anything. And while I was on the Bishop Dwanger dance team, we won state in the highest division possible, so I thought, ‘You can’t get any higher than this. You just can’t.’ But I had never been to a Mad Ants game, never once saw the Madame Ants dance, never ever. So my mom was like, just go do it.” Upon looking at the flyer, they realized that Melanie was two-weeks shy of the 18-year age requirement, but Melanie’s mom talked to the Mad Ants office and explained the two-week differential and Melanie’s experience, and the Mad Ants encouraged Melanie to try-out.

In their second NBA-D season at the time, the Madame Ants coach at the time was former Indiana Pacemate Sheenah Johnson, and even before Melanie was 18, her leadership potential was noticed. Melanie remembers, “I tried out, and while all the other girls were learning their routine, I think Sheenah saw something in me. So while the others were auditioning, (Sheenah had me) in the corner, kind of guiding the girls, to see if they forgot something. (I thought), ‘If I am doing this, did I make the team?’ I just wasn’t sure. But I did get a call back, and it was awesome. I liked it a lot; I really did, so that is how I got here. This is where it started, I grew up here, basically, because when you are 18, you don’t know anything, and I am 21 now, and I am still learning, and I want to keep learning.”

In her first seasons, in some ways Melanie’s young age fostered her development as a leader, because the older Madame Ants had more non-dance activities in their lives. “While Sheenah was coaching, she had her own dance studio, and I think she saw leadership in me. When she could not make it (to games), I would be the one leading the girls; I would be the one saying, ‘Okay, let’s go practice.’ Because I was younger, (my attitude was), ‘I just want to dance, let’s go!’ So Sheenah put that responsibility on me.”

Concurrent with Melanie’s four seasons as a Madame Ant, she has been a full time college student studying Communications with a minor in Dance at Indiana University–Purdue University Fort Wayne (IPFW). Melanie is a senior but plans to continue for a second degree in media communications. Melanie has also had internships that cover the gamut of communications, including one at a radio station, a web design and promotional solutions company, and a local auto dealer doing their social media for their on-line audience.

So in the vast array of methods of communication, would Melanie rather than be the person with the microphone or the person at the social media keyboard? “A couple of years ago when we had our draft party, somehow I was named emcee for the night,” Melanie remembers. “So I had the microphone, and it is kind of intimidating because everyone is staring at you, and when you are at the computer, you don’t have people staring at you. But I like being in front of people, I like talking to people. It is something everyone has to do, this is my education coming out, everybody has to communicate, and I like figuring out how people like to communicate.”

When Sheenah started having children, and already with her own dance studio, Sheenah decided she could no longer lead the Madame Ants. At 19, Melanie was ready to continue to expand her Madame Ants responsibilities even further. The Mad Ants named Tiffany Winling as the new coach, and Melanie was anxious to work closely with her. Melanie recalls, “During her hiring process, I started to get the girls together to work out, do technique, learn the bumpers and how to stand on the court. The first day we walked into Tiffany’s studio, I stood in that room where I used to practice in high school. And Tiffany said, ‘I know you.’ (And I said), ‘Yeah, I am Melanie,’ and she just said, ‘Oh, thank God!’ Because she owns her own studio, she has three kids, she has a husband; that is a lot. And to take on another team, it is a lot, and she was very glad it was me, and I was very glad it was her.”

Between her mom and Tiffany, Melanie has the mentors to succeed at such a young age. Melanie continues, “To this day, Tiffany is one of my best friends, my mentor, she is just amazing to me, and she treats me with respect. She is just amazing. She has been my light through this thing and I couldn’t do it without her. My mom is my rock, she helps me coach, so I can’t do it without her. I couldn’t do it without my mom and I couldn’t do it without Tiffany. So that is what built me up for this wonderful opportunity.”

This season, Tiffany maintains the role of choreographer, but at 21, Melanie is now the Madame Ants coach, youngest in the D-League. So Melanie, you have been taking on responsibility ever since you first tried out for the Madame Ants, so as a child, were you always the responsible one that the teachers loved? Melanie laughs, “No, I am the troublemaker in my family. I wouldn’t have a sense of responsibility if I did not have dance. If I didn’t love something so much, I think I would be lost with it.”

And in addition to game nights, the Madame Ants also play a role in the community, and Melanie’s favorite part it is interacting with kids. “I love teaching kids, that is the second part of dance that I love, teaching,” says Melanie, who also teaches at Tiffany’s dance school. “When we have appearances and they ask for a mini-clinic, I say, ‘I am there!’ Last week, we had a clinic; kids were yelling, we were playing games, they were laughing. I am very animated when I teach. That is the part that I love, that is how I can invest in the community, the best way that I can. So it is fun, it makes me tired, kids are tiring, but at least I can send them home,” Melanie laughs.

For Melanie, the gift of dance provides to children, “Confidence, a sense of self, a sense of motion. We have to move our bodies, everyone does it. It doesn’t mean you are gyrating across the floor (laughs). We all have a certain swagger to ourselves. It teaches kids about insecurities. So there are definitely lots of great things AND it is also GREAT exercise for kids too. Lots of people say, ‘It’s just that artsy stuff.’ Nah, I make my kids run around the court.”

“I believe that everyone can learn how to dance,” Melanie continues. “I do not believe that everybody has the will to dance. But when you have somebody so passionate, I think that is what I take away from the dance coaches that I have had. Because they are so passionate about dance; that is why I wanted to be better.”

The role of the dance teams for each team in the D-League is not a formula handed down from the league office, but one tailored by each team to their locality. Melanie says the Madame Ants are, “What the (front) office wants, what the (team) president wants. I can totally understand that, because we are a very family oriented city. Fort Wayne has churches and dance studios. That has been what I have been told my whole life. Keep it family friendly. We try to push the envelope, but we don’t want to push it too far to offend.”

Melanie takes pride in her squad, saying, “I do want the best dance team in the D-League. I don’t necessarily think that people are judging dance teams in the D-League. They just want pure entertainment, and that is what we are here to provide, but I do want a group of girls that want to be better, but also want to be local celebrities, too. I want to treat this like an NBA team, not a D-League team. So that is why I push my girls, because I do have girls that want to be Colts (Cheerleaders), I do have girls that want to be (Pacemates), I do have girls that want to be Luvabulls. Well, you have to learn to pose like a Luvabull, you have to know how to pose like a Pacemate, but that doesn’t necessarily work (in For Wayne). It’s a very different market.”

The Mad Ants connections to their NBA affiliates, the Pacers, Bucks, and Fort Wayne’s former team, the Pistons, provided the Madame Ants the opportunity to perform at a Pacers game during the 2010-11 season in Indianapolis. Melanie had performed at a Pacers game once before pre-Madame Ants, but this performance provided a chance to assess where she was in her dance journey. “For the last four years, I have been thinking about the NBA,” explains Melanie, “So stepping on that court, I felt, ‘I can see myself here, I like it here, I like the vibe here, it’s not intimidating,’ It was not, ‘Do I really belong here? Do I want to do this?’ And if you have to question it, maybe you’re not ready. But I was glad it was Pacers, somewhere that I have been before. If we had gone to Chicago or up to Detroit, I would have been a little more intimidated.”

Melanie has been a cheerleader since the fifth grade, and has always loved the entertainment side of sports. And the Mad Ants notable approaches to entertaining fans often include theme nights. What are Melanie’s favorite theme nights? “Definitely has to be 80’s night, we go all out,” replies Melanie. “We’ve had 70’s night in previous years, but this year we nixed 70’s night and brought in 90’s night. We were Spice Girls, and that’s our era. We are 1990 and on, that’s us! And the biggest pop girl group in the 90’s was Spice Girls. We did the song that they did for their Pepsi commercial for one of the dances. It was great and it was fun. We just did it the other night, not a theme night, but why waste a dance?!”

Back in the day, who was Melanie’s favorite Spice Girl? “My favorite was the Ginger Spice one, but I was totally wigged out that there were two Melanie’s on the Spice Girls. So I thought I was like the coolest girl ever because I shared the name with two Spice Girls. I had all their CDs, I had their movie. I wanted to be them, I wanted to dance, and I wanted to sing.”

Melanie’s enthusiasm for dance, the Mad Ants, and their fans has taken her to a leadership role at a young age. “Fans are great, I love passionate people. They are cheering on their team,” Melanie says, explaining that determination and passion are two key attributes that she truly appreciates. “Dance is something that I have passion for, that I want to continue doing, and I am just not ready to sit in the office yet.”

So Melanie continues all of her roles, coach, dancer, student, and teacher, and is always ready for more things that will spice up her life. Recently, she began choreography for a local recording artist, and she will serve as backup dancer with three other Madame Ants. Melanie has done a lot for someone 21 years old, but like Fort Wayne legend Johnny Appleseed, freely shares and gives her gift of passion for dance and fan entertainment to her squad and scores of young dancers. No matter where the next paths take Melanie, laughter and smiles will always follow her on the journey.

We SO thank Melanie for taking the time to assist UltimateCheerleaders for this interview, and the Mad Ants Team President Jeff Potter and Director of Communications and Operations Heidi Busch for all of their help and hospitality! More interviews with Madame Ants are coming, and we will even learn who came up with their unique name!

And if you want to see more photos of Melanie from the March 18th game against Erie, here is a link.