UH Graduate Progresses in a Dream Dance Journey
By Shiina Losciuto
Kaleo.org
Hundreds of women from all over the world traveled to AT&T stadium in May to try out for the famous Dallas Cowboys cheerleading team. This year, 46 women were selected for training camp and 36 will make the final squad.
For football players, playing on a Super Bowl-winning team is the ultimate dream; for dancers, it’s becoming a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader. Recent anthropology and communications graduate Simone Culwell is a candidate in this year’s training camp.
The tough and intense journey of the Dallas Cowboys cheerleading selection is shown through multiple weeks in their reality TV show called “Making the Team.” Participants are introduced into the most competitive situation they will ever face, having to endure multiple rounds of auditions until they are invited to the training camp.
“As a little girl, I always admired the poise and grace of the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders,” Culwell said. “I never thought I would actually have the skills or the confidence to try out.”
The Dallas, Texas native has been dancing for six years and has always hoped to make a career out of it. In her last two years in Hawai‘i, she worked as a jazz dancer for the Legends in Concert Rock-A-Hula Show in Waikīkī.
Culwell joined the UH Rainbow Warrior dance team the second semester of her freshmen year and was team captain for her last year.
While most of us were stressing about finals, Culwell was also focused on studying the history of the organization. On top of the physical preparation, she spent her time studying the Cowboy’s roster, history and current news. For try-outs, you are expected to be up to date about Cowboys current and past events, pop culture, politics and current events.
“It took two years of mental preparation, developing my dance skills and getting my body into shape,” Culwell said. “My last semester of college, I only needed to take 6 credits of core classes so I filled the rest of my schedule up with weight training to get in shape, yoga to maintain my flexibility and ballet to maintain a strong dance foundation.”
When auditions approached in May, she has a solo routine prepared in hopes of making it to finals.
Although it’s been a dream come true, it hasn’t been easy. Culwell said that training camp has been the hardest thing she’s ever done, and is constantly under pressure.
“At this point, every girl is beautiful, talented, smart and has a great figure,” Culwell said. “It’s up to the director and choreographer to decide who they want to represent them.”
Cullwell’s advice to others is to always stay positive because it’s worked for her so far. It was unreal to her that her dreams might actually be in reach, and she wants more than anything to work for this opportunity.
