2016 Phoenix Suns Dancers Auditions

This past Saturday, I made the trek to the Valley of the Sun to cover the 2016 Phoenix Suns Dancers Auditions.  The Suns have a new coach, Earl Watson a former standout at U.C.L.A. whose NBA playing career spanned over a decade, and there is a tangible sense of excitement over the team’s future prospects.  And this excitement extended over to the Suns Dancers auditions, which drew over 80 hopefuls to the Talking Stick Resort in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Preliminary auditions were held on Saturday, July 30th and there would be two rounds this day, but the media was only allowed to cover the first round.  There appeared to be several open positions available as a number of veterans were not trying out for the 2016-2017 squad.  One of them, Tia, had choreographed the first round audition routine and spent the better part of a hour or so teaching each movement to the girls in attendance.

After the routine was taught, the girls were given a few minutes to rehearse the dance in its entirety with music.

With the rehearsal over, the judges entered the ballroom and took their seats.  The candidates were called up in groups of three and performed the minute and a half audition routine before the panel of judges.

After the last group of hopefuls had performed the audition routine, the judges retired to deliberate and the candidates were excused for lunch.  The media was also excused for the day, so I had lunch with a fellow photographer and then made the long trek back home to Los Angeles.  It was a nice way to spend a weekend, covering 80 of the most beautiful dancers in Arizona. Suns day, fun day!

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I would like to thank the Sumer Meyer, Sean Gale and the Phoenix Suns organization for allowing me to cover their 2016 Suns Dancers auditions.