James, East Coast Correspondent – Page 165

By Jayme Lamm
CBSLocal.com

There’s this crazy misconception about NFL cheerleaders – that they’re stupid, only in it to date players, don’t have “real” jobs, don’t know jack about the actual sport they’re cheering for… the list goes on and on. But it’s a pretty ignorant list if you’ve met 99% of these gals that suit up on NFL Sunday (which now also includes Mondays, Thursdays, and Saturdays) to dance and cheer and hair flip for everyone’s enjoyment.

Meet Morgan, or Moe as everyone calls her, of the Houston Texans Cheerleading (HTC) Squad. Taking her spot in the red, white and blue glorious lineup for her fourth straight year, Moe is no rookie when it comes to dancing in front of 70,000 screaming fans inside Reliant or to the sport she’s loved since she was a child. (That’s Battle Red, Liberty White, and Deep Steel Blue to be exact for you Texans fans.)

Originally from Austin, TX, Moe has led quite the exciting lifestyle, becoming a backup dancer for big country stars like Big and Rich and Trace Adkins. Moe happily calls Houston home now and spends her days as a Business Development Representative for a prominent Orthopedic Group in the Texas Medical Center while her nights and weekends are spent proudly representing the Houston Texans.

You are the awesomest, Moe.

The HTC is known around the league as the squad with a more hip-hop approach than most of the others, thanks to Coach Alto, and Moe fits that mold perfectly. “I like the style that Coach Alto puts in. We’re a little more hip-hop, and that’s my strong suit. Obviously I backup danced for country stars so the little bit of hillbilly we add to it fits me just fine too,” Moe jokes.

We all know the simple truth that everything is bigger in Texas, and cheering is certainly no different. “Dancing in front of 70,000 people, you have to be huge,” Moe explains. “Your personality has to show – every facial expression counts. I have to exaggerate all my moves – my smiles, my walks, everything. People can spot me out from a ton of rows up. They aren’t dancers critiquing you, they want to see you’re enjoying the game.”

But being an NFL cheerleader isn’t all glitter and pillow fights. “We work hard. We do a minimum of 40 appearances a year, and you have to maintain a full-time job or be a full-time student. We have practices 3 days a week, but you have to practice before practice. Practice isn’t for learning; you’re supposed to already know it. We learn four new dances for every game plus 12 sidelines plus 10 fillers. Then there are the workouts…” as she trails off. Clearly it’s exhausting just talking about all the hard work that goes into this passion of hers.

Moe was voted Rookie of the Year in 2011, Most Spirited in 2012 and voted the cheerleader to represent her team at the Pro Bowl in 2012. The internet has also dubbed the blonde bombshell as one of the most photographed cheerleaders in the league. And it’s easy to understand why Moe flashes her pearly whites so often. The girl is happy with her life all around and thankful for where she is. She doesn’t take a single day for granted, especially her numbered days in that coveted HTC uniform. “You only get to put your Superman suit on for so long – that’s what my cheerleading outfit is, and then I go back to being a normal person. Football players are somebody years down the road, but cheerleaders, we come and go. Maybe that’s why we’re always smiling,” she says.

Pep, moxie, zip! This dame’s got it all.

Enough with words! Sometimes pictures are all you really need, especially with cheerleaders, so here’s a gallery of the lovely Moe.

You can follow Morgan on Twitter and LIKE her page on FB.

And be sure to follow @TexansCheer on Twitter – this group of social media hotties has more followers than 13 NFL teams, 19 MLB (including their hometown Houston Astros), 19 NHL, 19 NBA and 20 MLS teams. Clearly these gals are doing many things right.

By Katrina Tulloch
Syracuse.com

Syracuse Crunch Ice Girls Ally Panighetti and Sam Cavelli spent two hours mingling with Crunch fans at a pep rally before Friday's game against the Springfield Falcons.

Being a Zoom Tan Ice Girl for the Syracuse Crunch hockey team means people will stare at you, but you’ll get used to it.

You’ll be offered phone numbers, love letters and frequent requests to have your photo taken, usually with admiring young girls, teenage guys or older men.

You probably won’t see the hundreds of photos taken of you that end up on private Facebook accounts or on Instagram.

You might be a little cold when you’re not cheering, because those blue and silver spandex uniforms aren’t exactly the warmest outfits for working in an ice rink. At least they don’t bare your midriff anymore, like the old uniforms did.

There will be hard parts, like when you have to ignore the rowdy catcalls of fans who had a bit too many drinks before the game.

There will also be perks, like two free tickets to each game, which you might share with friends, family or significant others. You’ll also get a year of free spray tans from your Zoom Tan sponsor.

You might get gently scolded to come in for more free tans. You’re looking a little pale, after all.

You’ll probably love your job, because you love hockey, the fans, or because you grew up in the Crunch world. The reasons for cheering vary for each Ice Girl, as do their reasons for joining in the first place.

This Year’s Girls

Twelve young women fill the Ice Girls roster this year, ranging from ages 19-26. About six girls work each game, rotating nights based on school schedules and other jobs. Seven Ice Girls worked during the Crunch’s sweeping defeat of the Springfield Falcons on Friday night, which advanced them to the Calder Cup final four.

Last Friday was special. A pep rally was organized by the city at the Everson Plaza across from the hockey arena, with food vendors, live music and games for kids.

At the plaza event, the girls passed out buttons and mingled with fans. One pep rally attendee, Bud Natale, has been attending Crunch games for years. He thinks this year’s Ice Girls are especially great at getting the crowds pumped up.

“I wish all the sports had a group like that,” said Natale, 49. “They’re incredible. You can’t miss them.”

The Ice Queen Routine

The girls sprinkle in to the Crunch stadium about two hours before every game to put on makeup, do their hair and hear their specific jobs for the night.

Kristin Costello became the Ice Girls’ captain (a.k.a. “Captain Crunch”) after one year of cheering on the squad. She describes the team as more promotional than a regular dance team or cheer squad. It’s their job to keep fans interested with free T-shirt tosses and trivia questions.

Costello has plenty of experience redirecting short attention spans. She’s a substitute teacher for first and second graders. She also described herself as a bit timid before joining the Ice Girls.

“Having thousands of people always looking at you, wanting pictures, talking to you about things…all that really opened me up in my personal life,” she said.

After joining the Crunch, Costello became braver and more comfortable talking to strangers. She also became better at conversing and connecting with her students.

Some of the Ice Girls have backgrounds in dance (like Yasmeen Bankole, 19), cheerleading (like Jen Andrews, 19) or are lifelong Crunch fans (like Sam Cavelli, 22). One girl was a Zumba instructor. Another is a waitress. Many are students.

Ally Panighetti, 23, has been going to Crunch games since she was four years old and has been an Ice Girl for four years.

“These people are like my family; they’re not just fans to me,” Panighetti said. “They’ve watched me grow up.”

[Syracuse Crunch Ice Girls]

Houston Texans Cheerleader Twins Dresdynn & Schuyler (or is it Schuyler & Dresdynn?)

By Mike Martinez
303 Magazine

She wanted them prepared. If George Karl’s boys were going to bring the playoffs back to the Pepsi Center, her girls were going to give a damn good show. By now the wound from the Nuggets early postseason exit has scabbed over, but when Denver Nuggets dance manager Amy Jo Wagner welcomed 303 Magazine to her team’s (then unknown) final practice, she had her girls rehearsing as if their performance was imminent.

The wood floor in the studio room at Forza Fitness rumbled with steps completely in-sync. Blonde, brown and black locks of hair whooshed through the air in the same direction, hands slapped thighs simultaneously and all to the perfect synchronization of Amy Jo’s counting. Well, perfect at least to a novice.

“I have a feeling we should do this on more time. So turn your brain on girls,I want to get home and watch the game” Amy Jo said as her team finished a routine that fell short of her approval.

I couldn’t spot a single flaw–perhaps because I was slightly mesmerized by the array of powder blue and yellow– but Amy Jo demands a great deal from her girls and knows exactly what she wants.

From the top- She turns the music on to cue game speed- her team snaps into formation and begins the routine. Crouched down with calculated concentration, her hands folded in front of her and somehow watching every move of every dancer, Amy Jo reminds me of a coach I had who terrified me. He saw everything. Nothing slips past Amy Jo either. After a routine she was finally happy with, Amy stepped away from practice for a moment to sit down with 303.

Dance wasn’t always in the cards. Amy Jo didn’t even start until she was 15 years old, and from her own recollection, had a bad attitude. At first she wouldn’t let coaches tell her anything without some sass. But she kept on dancing and soon fell in love with the performance aspect and dance and discipline became second nature.

She is everything you might come to expect from a dance manager in the NBA- precise, punctual and yes, very pretty. Though one thing that might catch you by surprise is her love for math. Algebra, trigonometry and calculus; nauseating terms for a writer, comforting words for Amy Jo Wagner.

“I have two passions in life. Music and math,” she said. “ I’ve just always liked having one right answer.”

Before moving to Denver to start this dream job with the Nuggets, Amy Jo was living out another fantasy as a high school math teacher in Arizona. I know, I know, I wish she was my math teacher too. She was in a comfy spot in life, albeit hectic. Dancing simultaneously for three different Arizona teams, (Phoenix Suns, Phoenix Mercury and the Arizona Rattlers) teaching high school math and having just bought a new home, Amy Jo thought her fairy-tale would play out in the desert. A job opening with the Denver Nuggets would change all that.

In 2008, on her birthday, Amy Jo quit her job as a math teacher and swapped it for dance life in the NBA. After a heartfelt goodbye from her school, she still gets emotional reminiscing about her time as a teacher. She received nothing but support from her staff and students, yet at times can’t help but feel that she ‘let them down.’ After turningdown the job initially, Amy Jo wasn’t going to let the Nuggets down.

With Denver as her adoptive home, this Kerkhoven, Minn. native has settled in quite nicely. Amy Jo has a 1 year old daughter with a loving boyfriend. Though coming from a small town, she admits there is some pressure from home to get married, which she says is not in the works any time soon. ”All that matters is we have a happy household,” she said with a smile.

Balancing out her busy schedule, Amy Jo spends her leisure practicing yoga and being with her daughter. And though free-time is not something in great abundance, she tries to make as much time as she can for each of her dancers and get to know them on a more personal level.

“I consider them a family, and building a personal relationship with them makes the season that much easier,” she said.

She makes it a point to sit down over coffee and just talk with each of her girls, and from an onlookers perspective her team is a very cohesive unit–her coffee dates must be working. Amy Jo is far from that terrifying coach I knew, her standards are high, but she is only there to help her team reach them. She leaves her ego at the door and explains that her job is not a “look at me” position. She is not there to run a tyrannical campaign either, she just wants to be a part of the team and earn the girls’ respect by being a good role model.

[Denver Nuggets Dancers]

By Michael Florek
Pegasus News

How much would you give up for a part time job, one that’s only guaranteed for a year and pays as little as $150 a week? What if that job involved stars and white boots?
Katy Marie auditions for the Cowboys Cheerleaders at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, TX on May 18, 2013.

The Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders practice anywhere from two to five times per week during the season. Attendance is mandatory, and there are extra sessions for rookies and the Show Group — a sort of special ops group of 12 cheerleaders who dance and sing — on weekends.

Training camp in the weeks before the season is tougher, with its nightly rehearsals that can last up to five hours and could result in more cuts.

If the cheerleaders make it out of training camp, they’re are paid $150 per home game, with opportunities for paid appearances. Oh, and just because you make it one year doesn’t mean you’re back the next. Everybody has re-audition.

“It’s really common for veterans to get cut,” said Sydney Durso, now in her sixth-year on the team. “I remember when I first made the team five years ago, I think five or six veterans were cut.”

Final auditions concluded on Saturday. Those chosen will take on the burden and head to training camp. Some left their lives in other states or countries for the right to wear the uniform.

Why?

“It’s a worldwide brand,” said Brijet Finister, who made two trips from Stockton, California in order to audition for the first time but didn’t end up making the cut. “The image of the DCC is one that a lot of people desire to be a part of.

“You almost become a hero to thousands of girls across the world.”

Perhaps no one knows more about the opportunities than Durso. The 23-year-old is now the longest tenured Cowboys Cheerleader on the team.

She has been on three USO tours with the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, making trips to Japan, South Korea, Kuwait, and Bahrain to visit troops.

“I love performing of course, but there’s something about our iconic uniform about that is so different than anybody else’s,” Durso said. “You can make people smile with just our uniform.”

Jinelle Davidson came to Texas from Australia two weeks ago for opening auditions, leaving her job, her studies, her family, and her cheerleading team in Australia.

“I literally left everything behind,” Davidson said. “There’s an energy behind cheerleading that I’m really passionate about.”

And the Cowboys were the best, so she wanted to follow in the footsteps of fellow Australian Angela Rena and try out.

It ended in success. Davidson, Rena, and Durso heard Kelli Finglass, director of the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, call their name called after a 12-hour day audition day.

They’ll be training camp at the end of the month, ready for another year being “America’s Sweethearts.”

“It is perfect,” Durso said. “I love it. I love what we do.”

That’s all the justification she needs.

Plenty more photos here.

A Miami Dolphins Cheerleader

The polls have opened for the 2013 Arena Bowl Dream Team voting. Fans have a chance to help select the Dream Team Dancer for each of the 14 AFL teams.

Brittany of the Arizona Rattlers Sidewinders

Shelby of the Arizona Rattlers Sidewinders

See all the candidates from all the teams and Cast your vote here.

Open Call: Saturday, June 29th at the BMO Harris Bradley Center

Enter through Kohl’s doors (6th & Highland)
Doors open at 8a
Registration 8:30-9:30a

Call Backs: Sunday, June 30th at the BMO Harris Bradley Center

Enter through Kohl’s doors (6th & Highland)
Doors open at 9a

Finalists:

Candidates who are selected as finalists will enter into a month long training camp with weekly evening practices – dates and times TBD

Finals:

Final live audition will be held at the end of July – date and time TBD

Requirements:

Must be 18+
High school grad or GED
Available for all home games & two evening practices per week
Must have dependable transportation

What to Wear:

2 piece form fitting outfit required: Mid-section & legs must be exposed (No black tights)
Dance sneakers, tennis shoes, or jazz shoes with NON- Marking soles
Performance ready hair & makeup
Business casual interview attire for call back candidates on Sunday

What to Bring:

Completed Application
Proof of ID
2 non-returnable photos (Do not have to be professional)
Snacks

[Energee! Auditions]