Auditions for the 2011-12 season will be held Sunday, July 17th at Du Burns Arena, located in the Canton neighborhood of Baltimore City.

Du Burns Arena
1301 South Ellwood Avenue
Baltimore, MD 21224

Registration begins at noon
(registration fee is $20 if applicant did not attend prep class)

Prep class will be held Monday, July 11 and Wednesday, July 13 at Du Burns Arena from 7-8:30 p.m.
The prep class will cost $10 ($15 for both).
Choreography will be taught at the prep classes and they provide an opportunity to ask the Director and veteran cheerleaders any questions.

Applicants need:

To be 18 years old by July 17
One non-returnable photo of themselves in a crop top and dance shorts
Applications will be provided at auditions
Application fee of $20 if the applicant did NOT attend prep classes
Audition attire: crop top, dance shorts, flesh colored tights/panty hose, dance sneakers/shoes

Audition FAQs:

Please note: There is a chance that the Baltimore Blast Cheerleaders will travel to Bermuda so all applicants are required to have a U.S. passport.

Is there an age limit?
This is no maximum age limit.
Minimum age requirement is 18 years of age by July 17th, 2011.

Are there any height to weight restrictions?
You should be in overall great shape. We do not have a height to weight requirement. We have no maximum or minimum weight requirement.

Are auditions open to the public?
Auditions are closed to the public. This includes family and friends.

What do I need for auditions?
Auditions can run all day. Please bring with you:
• Drink and snack
• Sweat towel
• Makeup & Hair Products

Do you have any prep classes; do I have to take the prep classes to make the team?
• We will have two prep classes – July 11th and 13th from 7-8:30 at Du Burns Arena.
• One prep class is $10; two prep classes are $15.

How should I wear my hair and makeup?
•Make-up and hair should compliment your features.
•You should wear your hair down.

What will the judges focus on and look for?
•Dance technique
•Performance
•Showmanship and personality
•Dance skills
•Fitness

What should I wear to the auditions?
•Sports bra or crop top with stomach showing.
•Short biker shorts or trunks
•Dance sneakers or jazz shoes
•Flesh colored panty hose or dance tights
•All body piercings should be removed and all tattoos covered

When will the squad be chosen?
On Sunday, July 17th there will be two sets of cuts. The finalists will participate in a mandatory training camp at Du Burns Arena. Training camp will be Monday, July 18th and Wednesday, July 20th. Finalists will be chosen at the end of the training camp on Wednesday, July 20th.

[Baltimore Blast Cheerleaders]

So just who exactly was in Atlanta last weekend? Check the gallery to see.

[Roll Call Gallery]

By Terry Pellman
Ohio Community Media

Russia native Vania Brandt is a multi-talented young woman whose professional and recreational interests are quite diverse and are now taking her to a whole new level of experience – as a Cincinnati Bengals cheerleader.

For a career, the 2005 Russia High School graduate and Newport, Ky., resident works as a circulation technician at Good Samaritan Hospital. In that role, she operates the machine that circulates blood during heart bypass surgery. In her spare time, Brandt is now a new member of the squad of Bengals cheerleaders, known as the Ben-Gals.

At Russia School, Brandt served as a cheerleader in both junior and senior high school. She found she enjoyed the performance aspect of cheering and the atmosphere involving the crowd in attendance. However, while attending the Ohio State University she did not try out for the Buckeye cheerleading team. Her demanding load of studies for such a technical field did not allow time for such endeavors.

The daughter of Mark and Lisa Brandt of Russia, she was initially unsure what her major field of study would be at Ohio State, except that she knew that she had an interest in the field of medicine. Her father went with her to a medical career fair at the university, and a sign she did not understand caught her attention. Out of curiosity, she walked over to a booth promoting “Profusion Circulation Technology.” Upon receiving an explanation and then doing research and some job shadowing, Brandt knew that she had found her niche.

“I absolutely love it,” she says now. “I wouldn’t trade it for the world.”

Brandt is now in her third year of operating the critical cardiac machinery. She finds the work rewarding but notes it is stressful and felt she needed a diversion from the serious job. Also, her work hours are driven more by patient need than by a regular schedule, so she had some flexibility regarding time.

Already a football fan, Brandt ended up going to a Bengals game with a friend, and from their seats just a few rows high, she was able to observe the Ben-Gals in action. Brandt decided, “That’s what I’m gonna do”, and resolved to try out for the squad. Although she had never cheered at the college level, Brandt felt that simply cheering for Russia had given her the ability to be comfortable in front of larger crowds.

Brandt researched the tryout process, and the first time she got as far as the final cut. Not to be easily deterred, Brandt went out again this year and made the squad after what she calls, “A really rough process.”

She explains that there are three stages to the tryouts. At the first session in May, around 100 women tried out, and 35 were dismissed at the first cut. At the second, 10 more were let go.
For the final stage of the tryouts near the middle of May, the public was invited to be in attendance. Brandt recalls that around 500 fans were on hand to watch the remaining 64 women compete for 32 slots.

At this final trial the candidates are required to perform a more complicated and physically demanding dance routine, which some simply could not do. There were given the routine to learn just a couple of days before. But Brandt, a former member of the track and softball teams in high school was in condition, and passed the test. The position requires one to undergo “interval training,” allowing the heart to rapidly adjust from rest to extreme bursts of activity.
Brandt says the routines alone do require a high level of fitness, and that it is “very, very hard. You have to be in top shape.” She noted weather is also a factor. When a game is played on a sweltering day early in the season, you can assume the temperature reading on the field will be 10 degrees warmer than the announced air temperature.

For a professional sports franchise, the cheerleaders serve as team promoters and goodwill ambassadors to the public. Brandt says that about 90 percent of their time spent as Ben-Gals will not be at the sidelines during games. The 32 members of the squad are expected to serve as role models to young and aspiring cheerleaders, including attending cheerleading clinics for school-age kids. And the selection process is strict; to be a Ben-Gal, a woman must be employed full-time or be a full-time student, as the team prefers having professionally oriented women on the team.

In fact, serving as a Ben-Gal is mainly a way to have a good time while contributing to the community. The cheerleaders are modestly compensated per game, but do not attend games away from Paul Brown Stadium. Their primary role is that of a goodwill ambassador to the fan base and community at large.

Asked about her family’s reaction to her accomplishments, Brandt notes that her parents have expressed their pride in her for both her career and pastime. She tries to travel back to Russia each month, and keeps in contact with many of her Russia High School classmates. Although there are no set plans for her to appear at any Russia events, she leaves open the possibility of doing so.

The Rockland Boulders’ dance team, the Rockland Roll, will be holding open tryouts at the St. Lawrence Center Bubble in Hillburn, New York on July 1 at 11:00 a.m. Check-in will begin at 10:00 a.m.

The Rockland Roll is looking to add both male and female dancers who are available to perform at the remaining Rockland Boulders home games. Anyone trying out must be at least 18 years of age and have prior dance experience.

The Rockland Roll dance team performs multiple choreographed dance routines during each game and is expected to interact with the crowd while not preforming, including taking pictures with fans, throwing t-shirts into the stands, leading cheers and acting as ambassadors to the Rockland Boulders.

Dancers in attendance will be taught a routine by Dance Manager Megan Clancy and judged based upon how quickly the dance routine is learned, how well the routine is performed and the dancer’s enthusiasm. All dancers are required to have a friendly, outgoing personality.

In addition to the dance tryout, a short one-on-one interview is also required for all dancers before the final cut is made.

The Rockland Roll is an internship-based team offering college credit to any students that tryout. The team also will accept volunteers who have a passion for dance or looking to pursue a future career in dance.

For more information about the Rockland Roll tryout, please call the Rockland Boulders at 845-364-0009.

[Rockland Roll Tryouts]

Nets Dancers Auditions began last Sunday in Manhattan, moved to Brooklyn on Saturday, and finished at the Nets Practice Facility last night.

Three familiar faces you may recognize on the new squad:

Thanks to TTC Alumni Sissy for passing along a few photos that the Titans Cheerleaders took at P-R-O. Other squads please feel free to share while, David and I work on ours.

I was happy to see our good friend Sandy Charboneau was at P-R-O on Saturday. Last year Sandy founded ProTour Productions, and has already worked with entertainers to produce shows for the US Armed Forces in six different countries on fix different international tours.

But we didn’t have much time to catch up, because Sandy flew out early Sunday morning for her latest tour to Diego Garcia.

This is the photo card for the Diego Garcia Military Tour from June 26th through July 7th featuring the Arizona Cardinals (Vanessa and Taryn), Atlanta Falcons (Margaret and Brandy) and the Minnesota Vikings (Andrea and Elizabeth)! Also on the trip are the Reel Darlins: Sheli Sanders and Mary Delgado (also a former Bucs Cheerleader) who will host a fishing tournament with the men and women in Diego and comedians Trey Elliot and Theo Von.

[ProTour Productions on Facebook]

I’m back from Atlanta, and let me just say it was the biggest and best P-R-O yet. Great instructors, awesome choreography and 260 of the hottest dancers from all across professional sports. They may dance like divas, but these ladies are some of the nicest folks you could ever hope to meet.

David and I are working hard, processing all our photos. Keep checking back for all our coverage.

(more…)

Last Friday was Martial Arts Night at the Tulsa Talons-Philadelphia Soul game. And the Soulmates got into the spirit by dressing up as ninjas for their end of the third quarter performance.

[Philadelphia Soulmates Gallery]