Endicott grad Cara Desjarlais enjoying rookie season with Boston Celtics Dancers

The Beverly Citizen
April 9, 2015

Cara Desjarlais dances to a different tune – One that’s usually blared full blast over the TD Garden sound system.

The Brockton native and Endicott graduate is one of the newest members of the Boston Celtics Dance Team. Desjarlais is one of seven rookies to make the 16-member squad, which was chosen from a field of approximately 200 hopefuls that auditioned last June.

For the past six months, the South Boston resident has been a regular on the parquet floor, rooting on Isaiah Thomas, Avery Bradley and the rest of the Boston Celtics in front of capacity crowds of 18,624 each night.

“It’s been awesome,” said Desjarlais. “Now that the [regular] season is coming to an end its really sad, actually. It just goes by so fast. When you first start you have so many games, but it goes by way too fast.”

The Celtics wrap up the regular season April 15 in Milawaukee.

Her rookie season has come with a few unexpected surprises. Despite dealing some big name players, the Celtics have suddenly found themselves back in the playoff chase, putting added emphasis on the final weeks.

“The games have bee so much fun,” said Desjarlais, 25. “Everyone is in the playoff push mindset, so the Garden’s been packed and everyone is really rooting for the Celtics. So I’m super excited to enjoy these last few games.”

This marks the ninth season in which the Celtics Dancers have provided entertainment at TD Garden. They perform at every home game in addition to making off-the-court appearances at other Celtics events throughout the season.

On a typical game night, Desjarlais and her team usually arrive at the TD Garden three hours before tipoff. From there, they go through a rigorous hour-long court rehearsal, leading up to game time.

The Celtics Dancers perform during pregame player introductions, as well as two dance routines during timeouts in each half.

Desjarlais made her debut on Oct. 29 for the Celtics season opener against the Brooklyn Nets.

“That was very nerve-wracking, because there were a lot of veterans that already know the deal, but (as rookies) we had no idea where to stand or what to do,” she said “But we went through it all in practice. So it was really nerve-wracking, but a lot of fun.”

One of her favorites moments this season occurred when the team performed a halftime routine.

“That was really demanding,” Desjarlais said. “It was five minutes long, so we combined a bunch of our dances, but it was really nice that we got to showcase and dance a lot more in that game.”