Laredoan attempts to join the Silver Dancers

By Clara Sandoval
Laredo Morning Times
August 26, 2013

SAN ANTONIO — The Spurs have a large following in Laredo as Spurs Nation stands strong and tall when they hit the floor every season.

Laredoan Clarissa Pena is vying to become part of the San Antonio Silver Dancers that entertain the crowds at all the Spurs home games with their choreographed dance moves.

Pena, a 2008 graduate of Nixon, is putting her best foot forward as she is one of six finalists for the last three spots with the Silver Dancers.

She is vying for the dance gig, but she needs Laredo’s help to make the team as online voting will determine who earns the last three spots.

The online voting starts today and finishes on Thursday as people can log on to Spurs.com and click on Clarissa Pena to vote for her.

Pena battled 93 other dancers in the two-day audition and 16 have already been named to the team.

“I feel a whole mixture of emotions,” shes said.

“Imagine being nervous, excited, happy, and anxious all in one moment, every hour of the day. I had so much energy that I didn’t want to sleep.

Most of all, I feel really blessed and honored to have had the opportunity to make it this far.

“No matter what happens, I know that God has a plan, and I will be happy with whatever he deems is best.

It’s not over, so I’m keeping my faith strong and am going to need Laredo’s help to make this dream a reality.

I’m also extremely happy to be able to go out there and represent Laredo.

I’ve lived in San Antonio for the last five years, so it does have a big piece of my heart, but Laredo will always be right there next to it.

Laredo made me who I am today, and I will never forget that.”

Pena recently graduated with Cum Laude honors from St. Mary’s University with a double major in psychology and marketing and currently works for Teach for America in San Antonio.

She is also a dance instructor for the St. Mary’s dance team.

Pena has an extensive dancing background that started at Diana Rendon’s Dance Academy for 16 years before she moved on to the Nixon cheerleading team and ended with the St. Mary’s dance team for the past four years.

This is not the first time that Pena has flirted with the Silver Dancers.

For the past five years, she toyed with the notion of auditioning before trying out last year.

Pena’s hopes of becoming part of the Silver Dancers stopped in the auditions but that only fueled her fire as she vowed to come back stronger this year.

“I’ve known about tryouts for the last five years but finally got the courage to tryout last year,” Pena said.

“Although my journey in the audition process last summer was short lived, I knew I couldn’t give up.

I spent the rest of the year coaching a dance team as well as practicing my technique whenever I had free time. I wanted to be ready and come back stronger for this year’s tryout process.”

Pena went to work since the day she was cut from the auditions and in a year went from not making the team to to being in the running for the last three spots.

“I feel like I’ve really been preparing all year long,” she said.

“Whenever I had some free time, I would work on different technique elements and focused on building on my strengths and improving my weaknesses.

Then in late March, I auditioned for the San Antonio Silver Stars Star Squad and made the team.

“I was so excited to be dancing for a crowd again.

This was the best preparation because the choreographer was always helping push the dancers, myself included, to be the best dancers we could be.

I also met some great friends, one of which who just made it to the Silver Dancers team, who really helped me improve on my dancing ability.”