Kim, the Director of the Lady Hawks Dance Team, informs us that auditions will be Saturday, August 15th.

The Lady Hawks are the dance team for the Baltimore Hawks of the ABA.

Charity gets asked, “Where’s Waldo?” all the time. And she knows the precise answer, “I say it’s between Delaware and Marion.”

The reason Charity gets asked “Where’s Waldo?” so much, is because the member of the MLL’s Ohio Dance Machine is from the town of Waldo, Ohio. So when Charity tells people she is from Waldo, she often hears the standard “Where’s Waldo?” pseudo-question. “I usually laugh, because I do hear it a lot, but it’s still funny. I like that they make that connection. Sometimes my automatic response, even though I understand the joke, I say, ‘It’s between Delaware and Marion,’ because that helps people locate where it is. And they say, ‘Wait, do you get it? The joke?’ So they get a little confused, and I say, ‘No, I get it.’”

And a frequent answer to the question, “Where’s Charity?” is “Dancing.” As far as dance, Charity explains, “I started when I was four. My sister danced, so I’ve just been dancing at Douce Dance Studio since I was little. And I love it!” During the 2014 season, the ever-smiling Charity kindly spent time with UltimateCheerleaders so we could learn more about where Charity has been, and what the future may hold.

The Ohio Dance Machine is the first sidelines cheer role for Charity. “Before that I’ve only danced. I played violin and trumpet, but I quit all that when I went to high school. I just focused on dance.”

Charity’s dance support begins at home. “My mom’s always has been there for me, for all dance. And she’s really supportive of anything I do, and she never misses any performances. She’s been to every single one I’ve ever done. My family’s very supportive of dance.”

Like much of the Ohio Dance Machine, Charity has a Capital University connection. Charity graduated last May from Capital with a degree in Exercise Science, and she says, “There’s a dance group there called Orchesis and one of the girls that was on the team last year was in Orchesis and she posted it on the page, and someone saw it. So I went to try out.”

And third year veteran Charity found a sidelines home with Major League Lacrosse’s Ohio Machine, “I really like it. I like that I can still dance. And it’s not just dancing in the room, but I actually to perform, and show people what I’ve learned. And plus, the girls made me want to come back more, because I really like all of them.”

So Charity, if you were in charge of picking a location to take your teammates on a Ohio Dance Machine Calendar shoot, where would you pick? “I would want to pick different locations,” Charity replies, “but if I had to pick one, Colorado’s pretty nice, because of the mountains, and you can have different looking backgrounds in the same area.”

Asked about what her dream job would be, Charity made it all about giving to others. “I don’t really know my dream job. I just like helping people, that sounds weird, but I just really like to help, somehow.” Not weird at all Charity! Charity’s enjoyment of anatomy and physiology lead her to exercise science, and she would like to use her knowledge to assist others, like going into a field such as occupational therapy. “That’s why occupational therapy is really awesome, because it helps you live your daily life better.

Charity has worked as a personal care assistant in a retirement home and really liked it a lot. Charity values time spent with the senior generation, saying, “Learning their lessons through life, they have a lot of wisdom to teach us, and help us with our decisions; to just mentor us. And I think it’s important to help them too, because sometimes they might get lonely because they’re not around their family at the retirement home. So just going in and talking with them really helps them, plus you learn from their past, and I like that.”

And Charity’s past has some great memories already. Charity liked growing up in small Waldo, with her parents and her older sister, plus “My friends, who are down the road from me. They have eight kids in their family. And they have some of my best friends in their family. So it’s nice being able to hang out with all of them.”

Charity also loved her time at Capital University, which is kind of the opposite of Ohio State. “It would take me maybe four minutes to get to my farthest class, if I left my room, so I loved how small Capital is. My biggest class was under thirty. So that was nice, you knew the professors a lot better.

On Saturday, July 25, the Ohio Machine hosts the Boston Cannons at Selby Stadium on Fan Appreciation Night. It is the final regular season home game for the Machine before beginning its playoff run. The Ohio Dance Machine will be there too, and we appreciate sweet Charity’s lovely spirit, love of dance, and concern for others. Wherever Waldo is, it creates some really special people.

Thanks so much to Charity for spending time with UltimateCheerleaders last season, and the support of the Ohio Machine franchise. More photos of Charity from 2014 are at this link.

So how does an attorney end up on the sidelines with Major League Lacrosse’s Ohio Dance Machine? According to Emily, she and her friend Ashley, also an attorney, “were looking for places where we could dance in Columbus, and we found the Dance Machine online, looked at their videos, and attended some of their tryout clinics.”

Both Emily and Ashley made the season last year as rookies, and last summer Emily said, “I love it. It makes me happy, and I love staying in shape and (dancing is) just something I’ve always done. I was out of it for a few years while I was in law school and when I found the opportunity to be on the Dance Machine, I thought this was perfect, and I get to dance again. I get to perform and the girls on the team are wonderful.”

Speaking of prep classes and clinics, it is that time of year for a lot of leagues. Last summer, Emily briefed UltimateCheerleaders on her cheer and dance background that eventually brought her to be part of the Ohio Machine sidelines.

“Well, I started dancing when I was two and a half,” Emily recalled. “And I started cheering when I was in kindergarten. I cheered all through up until high school, for my school, and I cheered competitively on an All Star Team.”

“I started my Freshman year at Ohio University and cheered there,” Emily continues. “Then I transferred to Ohio State and joined the Dance Team through my senior year of college until I graduated. We danced at basketball games, we did pep rallies during football season, and parades. It was a wonderful experience. We competed at nationals every year, so NDA Collegiate Dance Team Nationals was a competition I’d watched growing up so to actually get to compete in that was a wonderful experience. They keep the alumni involved as well.”

And Emily’s experience in cheer, dance, and tumbling makes it just natural that she makes it just feel natural to be on the sidelines. “I did it my whole life and so you just get comfortable with it,” Emily explained. “There definitely are those times if you have a certain stunt that you’re nervous about or tumbling, but once you step out and you’re in front of people and you’re performing, at least for me the nerves go away. You just sort of turn on to perform.”

Emily is originally from Trenton, Ohio, near Cincinnati, growing up with an older sister who also was in dance and cheer. Asked about her favorite childhood memories, Emily says, “They probably all involve cheer and dance. I loved the town where I grew up. It’s a small town, I knew everyone and I loved that, but I guess all of my favorite memories involve cheering: cheering for my school, being involved in the community, competitions. My senior year in high school was the first year we had a competition team for my school and we did really well and we won state that year. Just exciting things like that.”

But dance is just her sideline now, as Emily is a lawyer, with a degree in journalism from The Ohio State University, then to Capital University for her law degree.

“I’m currently a staff attorney for a judge,” Emily said last summer. “It’s wonderful. “It’s been a wonderful learning experience and I’ve met a lot of people. I’ve done a lot of different things: I work on the civil docket, do a lot of writing and research, both of which I really enjoy.” Since last season, Emily accepted a position in October with a law firm downtown doing civil litigation.

Emily, do you think, is there something about dancing since two and a half that helps in law? “Sure,” Emily responds, “I think not only just the aspect of always being busy and it really made me into a hard worker. I think that certainly obviously helps towards law, but it just builds your confidence and I think that’s important and I think it’s really helped grow who I am and contribute to my legal career.”

Perhaps, does even taking dance from a young age, learning steps, help in being able to learn and memorize in Emily’s academic career? “Remembering dances and combinations, I think that does help me in terms of memorization,” Emily answers. “I guess if I could have put some of my law school outlines and choreographed a dance to remember them, that probably would have been a good idea.”

Her co-workers like that Emily has an outlet with the Dance Machine. “They think it’s just really neat,” Emily says. “Actually one of my coworkers came to watch one of the games and she loved it. They knew that I had cheered and danced because I talked about that at work. They ask me about it all the time and think it’s really cool that I’m still involved.”

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Seven months ago, former Indianapolis Colts Cheerleader and Allen American Ice Angel Tessa experienced a debilitating stroke in her sleep. At age 28, Tessa could not speak and her right side was completely paralyzed.

We cheer on Tessa’s great progress so far, and will continue to cheer on Tessa as long as she needs it! Here is an update from a “GoFundMe” set up to help Tessa.

First and foremost, Tessa wants to thank everyone for all the support you have shown these past few months. Whether it has been financial or in spirit, she has been beyond blessed to have received them all.

Tessa, as we have been blessed enough to witness, has made unbelievable progress. She finished her in-patient therapy in Bloomington IN, began treatment with world renowned Anat Baniel in California, and is continuing the neuromovement therapy back in Dallas.

With all these blessings being counted, it is with a humble and grateful heart that we are asking for your help. With this type of treatment we know comes great financial stress. This is a stress we can carry FOR Tessa. This is how we can all be Tessa Strong too.

Tessa is fighting (and kicking butt) at a battle that would break even the strongest of us. I ask we continue to rally together for this beautiful soul by giving $1, $5, $10, $20. You can make a difference & continue to follow her journey! THANK YOU!

Kylie Crull, Minnesota Timberwolves Corporate Communications Manager, let’s us know about the Timberwolves Dancers upcoming auditions on Saturday, July 18. It’s being held at the Timberwolves new training center in Mayo Clinic Square, 600 Hennepin Ave, Minneapolis, MN 55403. Registration starts at 2:30 p.m. with the auditions at 3:30 p.m.

Here is a link to the flyer above, and registration and additional information can be found at www.timberwolves.com/dancers.

Kelly Allen embodies the term, “multi-talented.” Kelly spent ten years dancing for the NBA Wizards and NFL Redskins, and is also an accomplished singer, mathematics major, and now Director of the PIFL’s Richmond Lady Raiders Dance Team. A former captain for both the Wizard Dancers and Redskins Cheerleaders, Kelly choreographed many of their dance routines.

Kelly has donated her time to perform as a dancer, singer, actress and choreographer for musical productions presented by Cabaret for Life, Inc. for over fifteen years. Cabaret, as a non-profit organization, donates its show proceeds to organizations that provide support to groups or organizations whose mission is to ease the lives of those suffering from debilitating diseases. In addition, Kelly has been a member of the dance company The Capitol Movement Project. With this group, Kelly had the honor of dancing, singing, and choreographing in Capitol Movements Concerts at the Historic Lincoln Theater and the Kennedy Center, as well as the at the 25th Anniversary Radio One Gala. The organization’s mission is to build better lives through dance by partnering with community organizations to provide disadvantaged youth and underserved citizens the chance to participate in and patronize the arts in Washington, DC.

Kelly has been a singer with Kaleidoscope, a ten-piece band, based in Maryland, providing entertainment on a multi-state basis. She has been a feature singer with the band, and has performances ranging from NFL football games to the Inaugural Balls for Presidents George Bush and Barack Obama.

For seven years Kelly was the organizer, manager and producer of a major benefit event titled “Kelly and Friends” which featured a band, Kelly as the lead singer, along with other talented musicians. Proceeds from “Kelly and Friends,” which benefited Prince George’s County charities, exceeded $300,000 over the past seven years.

And now, Kelly is in her third season Director of the excellent Lady Raiders that support the PIFL’s Richmond Raiders. With the Raiders hosting a playoff game Monday night, it is a great time to learn more about, who shared with UltimateCheerleaders insights into her life. Kelly kindly was interviewed last before she added yet another facet to her life, being a mom of twins!

UC – Kelly, where you were born and raised, and what are your favorite childhood memories?

Kelly – I was born and raised in New Jersey, have six siblings. My favorite childhood memories are just being young and carefree without a worry in the world and being around my siblings.

UC – How old were you and how did you start dance? As a singer and dancer, were you always putting on shows when you were young?

Kelly – I started dancing at the age of five years old. Whatever activity my older sister was involved in, I always followed so at first my sister enrolled in gymnastics, so then I enrolled. Then my sister went into dance, and then I followed. I have never been nervous to perform in front of a crowd. I was always called a little “ham.” I always created little shows at home and whenever my parents came home from work, I would make them sit down to watch it. Of course the show would be extra-long, so my parents would set a time limit.

UC – When did you start your singing training, and who were your singing influences as you developed?

Kelly – I always loved singing for as long as I can remember and took my first vocal lessons when I was twelve years old. My idol has been and always will be Whitney Houston and that is the style that I always tried to emulate. The song that would show my vocal range the best is “I Will Always Love You.”

UC – Tell me about your post high school education and dance/music training?

Kelly – I went to Howard University where I originally majored in dance. After a year, I changed my major to Pure and Applied Mathematics and minored in Secondary Education and Voice. I studied classical music, mostly Italian.

UC – If there was a dream lead role in a musical that you would love to perform on Broadway, what would it be?

Kelly – If I could have any role in a Broadway play, it would be Velma in Chicago, or basically anything Fosse.

UC – What was dance/cheer squads background before you tried out for the Redskins? What prompted you to try-out for the Skins the first time?

Kelly – While attending Howard University, I was a captain for the Bisonettes. After college, I was a Washington Wizards Dancer for three years and held the position of captain and was with the Washington Redskins Cheerleaders for seven years and was also a captain. My coach Stephanie Gross, who was previously with the Wizards and moved over to the Redskins, was my motivation to try out. I loved dancing under her. I was lucky enough to know a few current and alumni redskins cheerleaders at the time that I decided to tryout and through their great advice and guidance, was able to make the team on my first try.

UC – What were you favorite memories of being part of the pro cheer, and what experiences did it add to your life?

Kelly – My favorite memories of being a Wizards Dancers and a Washington Redskins was making made several trips to the Middle East, Europe, the Balkans, Central America, and Greenland to entertain and boost the morale of our troops before and after the 9/11 tragedy; serenading the troops vocally as well as dancing. My most memorable moments as a Redskins Cheerleader is running out the tunnel for the first time to thousands of screaming fans, and singing the National Anthem at multiple games. Cheering professionally resulted in me growing more as a person and a professional, meeting so many people that I was able to network with and learn from, and fostering lifelong friendships that I cherish.

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Alyvia from the Missouri Comets Galaxy Girls informs us they had an amazing audition turnout this year, and selected a beautiful, talented new team! Here is the 2015-2016 squad for the Major Indoor Soccer League season!

From Florida Panthers game March 2014

Accountant and Tennessee Titans Cheerleader Jena, from last October

From 2013, former Indianapolis Tornados Syren Denae was also a Colts Cheerleader