That was fast!
Here’s a little look at what took place at Pro Action Dance last month:
Pro Action Dance 2013 from Gregory R R Crosby on Vimeo.
The Albany Times-Union has put together a slide-show of NFL Cheerleader uniforms down through the years.
See them all here.
Back in 2008, Sports Illustrated included a dozen NFL Cheerleaders in their annual swimsuit issue. As part of Swim Daily’s “Throwback Thursday” they’ve put up this video.
Photos here.
By Jade McDowell
The Dalles Chronicle
When basketball season returns and residents of The Dalles turn their televisions to the first Portland Trail Blazers game of the season, they might see a face they recognize.
That’s because the Blazer Dancers have some new faces on their roster, and one of them is from The Dalles.
“It hasn’t really kicked in yet. It’s kind of overwhelming,” said Andrea (her coach granted permission for the interview on the condition that we only use Andrea’s first name for privacy reasons).
The night of the big reveal she found out at the same time as a cheering crowd of fans. She watched nervously as the countdown on the screen went from announcing that there were 16 spots left to announcing there was only one spot left.
“They got down to the last one and it was me,” she said. “It was surreal. There were some returners waiting in the seats with me who were really talented, and some new talent that was really good too.”
She immediately ran down the hallway the other dancers had disappeared through and was met with open arms by her new coach. She said she’ll always remember the cheers of the other dancers as her coach threw open the door to reveal their final teammate.
“The other girls are awesome. It seems like it’s going to be a really fun year,” she said, noting that she is especially excited at being reunited with one of her former Duck teammates.
Andrea said she tried out to be one of the Blazers’ professional performers because she loved being a cheerleader for the University of Oregon Ducks when she was in college and wanted to see if she could take her dancing to the next level.
She could.
She proved her mettle through an audition process that stretched out over more than a month, including a clinic and then three rounds of initial cuts as the dancers demonstrated their technical skills, a hip-hop routine and a jazz routine. The remaining 37 hopefuls were then given more time to learn new routines before beginning the final round of tryouts, which included an interview process.
“We’re not just out there dancing; we have to be a role model and have good character and good speaking skills,” Andrea said.
She said she will be getting to know her teammates better once she moves to Portland and begins working with them — eight hours a week of practice plus games, which she will juggle in addition to a day job.
Right now, Andrea said what she is looking forward to most is performing. She said it’s hard to explain the adrenaline that came the first time she ran into a stadium of screaming Ducks fans, but she knows stepping into the Rose Garden Arena will probably feel just as exciting.
“I think the arena is going to be so loud,” she said. “Blazer fans are awesome. I’ve been to a few games and the fans are so fun.”
She said she’s a little bit nervous about going back to dancing after spending a year at a desk job, but she has kept her skills fresh while mentoring girls on local cheer and dance teams.
Andrea said she will always love dancing.
“I love how you can make it your own. There are so many styles of it you can’t really do it wrong. I love that you can express yourself. But I also love dancing in a team setting. It’s impressive that you can have so many different styles and everyone can come together cohesively,” she said.
A Charlotte Checkmate
Counting down the months until the Dolphins Cheerleaders Swimsuit Calendar is released.
Miss April is three-year veteran Lauren C.
And four-year veteran Brianne is Miss May.
[Miami Dolphins Cheerleaders Website]
By Beatrice Fantoni
The Windsor Star
A local dancer is in the running for the last spot on the Toronto Raptors dance squad, but she’ll need the public’s help to land the job.
Holly Holmes, 21, is one of eight finalists for the Raptors’ Dance Pak. Starting today, the public can vote online for their chosen cheerleader, and the dancer with the most votes gets the one-year contract that starts this autumn.
“It’s completely up to the public now,” said Holmes, who is also pursuing a nursing degree at the University of Windsor and teaches at dance studios in Windsor and Chatham. The finalists were chosen from some 250 aspiring performers at a daylong audition in Toronto last month. Now, Holmes has to take to Twitter, Facebook and all other manner of social media to get as many people as she can to cast a vote for her online at the special Dance Pak site.
Holmes, who started dancing when she was 11 – late by most dance standards, she said – decided to take a year off from school and teaching to go back to performing.
“I have the time now with my age to travel and do what I want with dance,” said Holmes, who is also among the dancers performing at the International Children’s Games in Windsor this month.
Nursing graduates are expected to start working full-time right after they are licensed, she said, and she might never get the chance to perform once she gets her nursing career underway. So putting her classes on hold for a year makes more sense, she said, and in a year, she can go back to school and focus on nursing.
Holmes said she’s been auditioning for dance troupes on cruise ship lines, too, and decided to try her luck when she heard Toronto’s basketball team was holding tryouts.
A tomboy growing up, Holmes said she didn’t think she would love dancing this much, but she caught the bug after tagging along to a friend’s class.
“I just really enjoyed it,” she said. She’s a naturally energetic person, she said, so dance seemed to be a good fit.
And not only did she like dancing, Holmes said, she was good at it. Despite being already 11 years old when she started, her teachers had her competing and teaching younger dancers soon after.
“Being really good at something made me love it more,” Holmes said. She even specifically chose to attend Villanova high school because of its dance squad, she said.
“I love being on stage,” Holmes said, describing one of her favourite things about dancing.
What the Raptors Dance Pak does is not exactly cheerleading in the traditional sense, Holmes said, so there are no pompoms and herkies involved. Their style is more a combination of hip-hop and “sassy” jazz.
“The style they dance is kind of my forte,” she said. “I have the confidence with that style.” In fact, she said, the choreography at the audition was just like something she would have made up for her dance students.
“I have the confidence with that style,” Holmes said, describing how her audition went alongside 249 other young women. “I was just having fun with it.”
The cheerleaders invite all fans to Toby Keith’s I Love This Bar & Grill for a first look at the 2014 Patriots Cheerleaders Swimsuit Calendar and the squad’s new uniforms.
Join all 24 Patriots Cheerleaders at Toby Keith’s I Love This Bar & Grill, located within Patriot Place at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, MA on Thursday evening, August 15th from 7:00 p.m. until 9:30 p.m. as they unveil their 2014 swimsuit calendar and brand new uniforms.
Fans of all ages can attend, though 21-plus only will be permitted after 10:00 p.m. There will not be a parking or entrance fee for the event. Swimsuit calendars will be on sale for $20.00, with 30 percent of each calendar sold being donated to the New England Patriots Charitable Foundation. The Patriots Cheerleaders will be wearing their brand new signature uniforms, designed by Sondra Celli, for the first time. The cheerleaders will be there to meet fans, take photos and sign autographs.
When I chatted with Patriots Cheerleader Captain Stephanie at the P-R-O Convention she was really excited about the new uniforms. She was sworn to secrecy, but promised that the look is glamorous.
