15 Years and Counting: The 2018 P-R-O Convention – Part Two

It was an amazing weekend of dance with some of professional sports hottest cheerleaders and dancers.  There were the usual teams that brought large contingents, you know the Texans, Vikings, Redskins, Cardinals, Titans, Jets Flight Crew, and the Falcons.  And there were teams that brought smaller groups like the Wizards, Honey Bees, Checkmates, and the Buccaneers.  There were a few squads from minor league teams and there were a few college dance teams.  There were even a couple of cheerleaders from Japan that made the trek all the way to Atlanta. 

All in all, it was another great year for this auspicious event, the 15th P-R-O Convention.

The P-R-O Convention in Atlanta is the premier professional cheerleading convention and attracts the very best professional cheerleaders and choreographers in the nation. Squads from the NFL, NBA, NHL, and minor league baseball gathered in Atlanta for a fun filled weekend of dance, team building and networking.

The staff of All-Pro3 gave UltimateCheerleaders.com exclusive access to the convention’s events.  In the second part of my article, we continue our coverage of P-R-O with a report on Sunday’s events.

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SUNDAY

Sunday is always a day that seems packed full of things to do because there is always a lot of dances to learn in a short amount of time.  It’s also getaway day and things get started off early.

Promptly at 8:00 am, the doors were opened to the ballroom and things got under way.  Guest instructor Jerod Fewell started things off by getting the girls stretched out and warmed up. 

Sideline Blitz

For the past few years, the staff have put together a mashup of mini dances that they call the Sideline Blitz.  Each instructor comes up to the stage and choreographs a couple of eight counts and they run the steps a few times before the next instructor comes up and repeats the process.  When all of the sequences have been introduced, they run the music and let it go.  It’s a fun little exercise that gets the girls all pumped up and ready for the real dance instruction to come.

Session 1

After the Sideline Blitz, it was time for the first session of dance instruction.  There would be four classes in this hour: Derric Whitfield – booty shaking hip hop, Theresa Baugus – rock/kick line, Brandii McCoy – Country, and Denise Garvey – classic rock. 

At the conclusion of the instruction, the girls would showcase what they learned in the grand ballroom.

Session 2

After the first showcase, the girls hurried off to their next scheduled round of sessions.  In this portion, there were four more classes taught: Alto Gary – funky sass, Jakene Ashford – jazz, Jerod Fewell – funk, Catapult Fit – fitness technique.

Once again, the girls gathered in the grand ballroom to showcase the dances they had just learned.

Session 3

At 12:00 p.m., the girls came together for the last dance session. Four more dances were taught: Katie Gibbons – jazz, Kristina Phppen – jazz, Tara Battiato – holiday, Ginger – pom.

After the instructional period, the girls gathered one final time to showcase what they had learned.

After the final showcase, all the girls were called back to the floor to perform the group dance to close out P-R-O. One last dance, one last time.  And with that, the 15th edition of the P-R-O Convention came to a close.  I can’t wait to see these routines performed on the field and court side in the season to come.

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I would like to thank Brandii McCoy, Alto Gary, Tracy Rutledge and the staff of AllPro3 for allowing me to cover the 2018 P-R-O Convention.  I had another amazing experience covering your convention.

For more cheerleader articles, please visit my personal blog: thehottestdanceteam.wordpress.com.