In her seventh season, Bloomington Edge Dancer Alice steps up to the mike….

…or maybe more accurately, Alice steps upstairs with a mike. The Bloomington Edge Dance Team’s Alice is in her seventh season with the squad that performs at the Indoor Football League games, but 2012 has hardly been just another season for her. Since Alice was featured in UltimateCheerleaders last season, there have been some notable additions to her roles on and off the field. Off the field Alice is all done with school and is working at one of the local prominent health systems.

But Alice’s pro dance world is increasing its scope also. When the new owners puchased the former Bloomington Extreme, not only did they change the name to Edge, a Premier Basketball League team, the Central Illinois Drive, was added to the Bloomington sports scene. Before their season started, the Drive approached Edge Dance Team Coordinator Stacy Terry to create a dance squad for their in-game entertainment. So for Alice, adding another dance team? No problem! When Stacy approached the football dance team about joining the basketball version, Alice recalled their answer, “Of course we said, ‘Yep! We’ll do it!’” Compared to the Edge games, the Drive basketball Dance Team, Alice says, “We do more, I would say, pom and jazz than usual.”

Plus, for both the Drive and Edge, Alice is the announcer during in-game promotions. Going from the sidelines, Alice grabs a microphone and hits the stairs, heading up to the arena to be in the spotlight as she engages with lucky fans. “It’s exciting, I like doing it!” Alice says. And always immensely friendly and thoughtful to the fans, Alice even makes fans a priority when assessing her new role. About being in-game announcer, Alice comments, “I love it, I get to know the fans. In basketball, we don’t go (onto the court) after the games and interact with the fans, like we do with football, and so we really don’t get to know them. Now I get to go up there and meet some of them, I enjoy it a lot.”

Alice is devoted to dance in general, and loves having the opportunity to continue to perform with two Bloomington-based teams, and she has no plans to give it up. Alice smiles, “I am going to be here until they don’t take me or I can’t do it.” Asked if fans recognize her after seven seasons greeting and performing before, during, and after games, Alice says she hears, “‘You’re still here?’ Yep, still here. Hopefully that is a good thing.”

Oh, its a very, very good thing. Alice embodies all of the best of pro dance. She puts fans first, graciously greeting fans tall and small with a warm smile, while also devoted to dance and truly appreciative of the fact she gets the chance to perform on a big stage. Congrats to Alice on her new role, and have a super rest of the season! And thanks to Dance Team Coordinator Stacy Terry and Edge/Drive co-owner Scott Henderson for all of their help There are more photos of Alice from her double-header day of a Drive afternoon game followed by an Edge night game here at this link.