Nebraskan an NFL cheerleader

By Melissa Anderson
World-Herald News Service
September 12, 2009

Danielle Westerman, a graduate of Papillion-La Vista High School, recently earned a spot as a Tennessee Titan cheerleader.

Danielle Westerman has been dancing since she was a little girl and now, at age 24, she will continue her love of dancing as a professional cheerleader for the Tennessee Titans football team.

She will be known as a Titan Cheerleader, but Westerman said the squad doesn’t shout out cheers like traditional cheerleaders. Instead, the team does choreography on the field to support the team and entertain the fans.

“To be dancing professionally while representing a national brand and an amazing organization has been humbling,” she said. “I am very blessed to have been given this opportunity.”

In order to become a Titan Cheerleader, Westerman went through a grueling two-month process.

During the preliminaries, all candidates had to quickly learn a routine and were judged immediately afterward. Westerman made it through the day and was asked to come back for the final.

The finals lasted for almost two weeks and consisted of learning routines while being judged on work ethic, public speaking, body type, dance ability and personality, Westerman said. Each candidate then was asked questions about the Tennessee Titans organization.

“This interview also gives the cheerleader coach, Stacie Kinder, some one-on-one time to get to know each woman as an individual,” Westerman said.

After making it past the two weeks of examinations, Westerman and the other finalists performed a choreographed routine as well as an individual number in front of a live audience and a panel of judges. The finalists performed in groups of three or four and were scored on different factors.

Once Westerman made the team, she and her teammates had to pass an extensive fitness test, to ensure that each had enough stamina to dance through a football game, and a written test about the Titans.

“There are 26 incredible women on the team, and every single woman has blown me away,” Westerman said. “Each woman is employed for an incredible company or is currently going to school to achieve very demanding degrees. I have never been around such an amazing group of women who are so accomplished.”

Westerman said she is looking forward to making new friends and becoming involved in community service events.

“I love giving back to the community, and this will give me an incredible opportunity to do so,” she said. “I am also very excited to step onto the field for the first time and to perform for our amazing fans. Dancing for the NFL will be a completely different dynamic than anything I’ve ever done before. I can’t wait!”

Westerman and her teammates had the opportunity to dance at the Hall of Fame Game in Canton, Ohio, on Aug. 9. Her first preseason home game was Aug. 15 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and her first regular season home game will be Sept. 20 against the Houston Texans.

Westerman was co-captain of the Papillion-La Vista Junior High Cheerleading Squad and also danced on the Papillion-La Vista High School Pom Squad, becoming a co-captain in 2003. She then attended the University of Nebraska at Omaha, where she danced on the UNO Dance Team as well as for the Omaha Beef Prime Dancers.

While performing with her dance teams, going to classes and working, Westerman also taught hip-hop classes for a local dance studio in north Omaha called Donna’s Dance Studio. There, she choreographed tryout and competition routines for many high schools in the Omaha area.

Westerman also became a backup dancer for a local artist, David Benjamin, when he performed shows at Linoma Beach.

After graduating from UNO with a degree in marketing, Westerman decided to move to Nashville “on a whim for a change of scenery” in March 2008. She will begin graduate school in the spring to become a registered dietitian.

“I hope to open my own business that can incorporate both studies,” she said.

She had never been to Nashville until about two weeks before moving to look for apartments. She said she was looking for bigger opportunities in dance and music and figured the “City of Country Music” would be a great place for her.