Bronwyn Gibson ready to dance up a storm for Seahawks
Portland Tribune
July 30, 2015
Although just a rookie on the dance team, the Lake Oswego native had already achieved great camaraderie with the other dancers. Bronwyn Gibson had thought she was through with dancing.
But now the 23-year-old Lake Oswego woman will be dancing more than ever as a rookie with the Sea Gals, the dance team for the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks. Gibson is already traveling far and wide. The Sea Gals’ schedule is already packed with events, such as the recent parade in Boise, Idaho. Of course, the Sea Gals slew the crowd.
“There are so many events lined up,” Gibson said. “There are paid appearances every single day. I could dance every day if I wanted.”
Gibson is pumped. But not long ago the Lake Oswego High School graduate thought she was done with dancing. At age 19 she had already been dancing in competitions and on school dance squads for 16 years, and Gibson thought it was time to give her feet a permanent rest.
“I had done all kinds of dance,” she said. “I took a four year hiatus, with no dancing in between. I thought it would be easy to give up dancing. It wasn’t.”
Soon after graduating from the University of Oregon, Gibson was working as a freelance writer, and she came to a crossroads in her young life: whether to try her luck on the East Coast or else stay on the West Coast and be near her family in Lake Oswego. She chose to remain close to home and start dancing again.
However, Gibson chose to make her dancing comeback in one of the most competitive venues, dancing on a dance line for an NFL team. And the Seattle Seahawks have one of the highest profiles in the league. With the exception of one bad pass in the last Super Bowl, the Seahawks are probably the best team in the NFL, and with winning comes glamour. They also have the loudest, most rabid fans in the league. Making a pro sports dance team is almost as tough as making the players team, yet Gibson gave it a shot. There were 200 applicants when the Seahawks held tryouts in the spring.
But four years off made no difference. Gibson had what the Sea Gals were looking for. She had all the right moves, and the looks, too.
“Everyone there was pretty and a good dancer,” she said. “The key to the auditions was that they were looking for the whole package. They wanted a good dancer, a good role model, a good speaker. They wanted someone with a good vibe. I wanted to impress them in every category.”
This summer Gibson is concentrating on becoming a good teammate for the 30-member team, and things are working out quite well.
“There are no issues with us, even though we all have different ages, dynamics and interests,” she said. “We have such a common passion. We all get along great. This is the best team I’ve ever been on for getting along.”
The good times are rolling for Gibson, and the best part hasn’t even started yet. That will come on Aug. 14 when the Hawks host their first exhibition game of the 2015 season against the Denver Broncos. Gibson is already thinking big.
“The Super Bowl is already on my calendar,” she said. “That’s my goal.”
