Bring on the Rev Girls!
By Megan Johnson
Boston Herald
March 18, 2012
Paula Abdul, Madonna, even Snooki: Some of the most famous stars in Hollywood scored their first starring roles at the top of a pep rally pyramid.
That’s right, before they rose to fame for spewing nonsense at talent-show contestants, Voguing, or inappropriate pregnancies, each of those ladies was once a high school cheerleader.
So in the spirit of hunting down the next Madonna — and possibly seeing a girl fall off the top of a pyramid — I jumped at the chance to judge the final auditions for the 2012 Rev Girls squad, the New England Revolution’s pom-pom girls. After all, I have seen “Bring it On” about 50 times, so I think I’m pretty qualified.
The event was emceed by Boston comic Dave Russo, who was VERY eager to tell me that he came in second on a reality show a few years ago (“The Entertainer,” hosted by Wayne Newton. Remember it? Didn’t think so…)
Along with my esteemed co-judges (Translation: Fellow media folk and “The Voice” star James Massone, who’s currently prepping to compete on Cee Lo Green’s team) we packed into The Greatest Bar. There, I helped whittle the 17 finalists down to eight winners based on four areas of expertise: trivia knowledge, overall appearance, group cheering, and crowd interaction.
The best moment by far came during the trivia portion of our program, when the ladies had the opportunity to share their vast knowledge on the sport of soccer and the Revs.
“Name five players on the New England team,” asked Russo.
You could have heard crickets. Not a single hand shot up, so Dave had to go with his plan B, which was to “name one member of the New England team.” That was a much more successful pursuit.
But despite your assumptions about cheerleaders, the lovely women were a pretty diverse crew.
“I’m a lifelong dancer, and I’ve always wanted to get into it professionally,” said Kelsey Kneeland, a brainy redhead who’s studying strategic management and entrepreneurship at Babson College. “I’ve always been in a sorority, but I’m graduating from college in May and I want to stay a part of an organization.”
Way to use that business degree, Kels!
When all was yelled and done, the eight new Rev Girls are: Dover homegal Katerina Akrivlellis, Kelsey Kneeland from Shrewsbury, Jessica May Wright from Manchester, N.H., Tyngsboro gal Holly Johnson, Anne Marie Conde from Norton, Ashland’s Anjha Thomas, Danielle Tousignant of Chelmsford and Kimberly Howe from Boston.
Rah, rah, rah.
