Age: 20
Hometown: Saskatoon
Occupation or student status: Dietary Aide
Year on team: Second
Dancer or Stunter: Stunter
Tell us about your previous cheerleader and/or athletic experience.
I have been cheerleading for seven years now. I loved both track and cheerleading equally growing up until I graduated high school and had to choose which one to do at the university level. Cheerleading won the battle and now I am doing things I never thought I would as a stunter for the Riders!
Were you a fan of Riders before joining the 620 CKRM Cheerleaders?
I was and still am a very big fan of the Riders!!! I grew up watching each game with my parents and learning a lot about football.
Who is your favourite Rider player of all time?
I can’t say that I have a ton of knowledge on the history of Riders players but being on the cheer team has allowed me to see first-hand the talent and dedication each player has. If I had to name one I would say Number 60, Gene Makowsky. He is a great role model for the sport and after 16 years as a Roughrider I would think he has a ton of Rider Pride!
What’s the scariest thing that’s happened while you were cheerleading?
The scariest thing for me is learning a new skill. It takes a lot of trust to be thrown 10-20 feet in the air and do an inverted skill, hoping to land safely in your base’s arms.
What should the fans in the stands know about your work as a dancer/stunter?
I think that the fans should know that we put an enormous amount of time into the skills we show on game day. When we do perform the skills, we are performing them on cement with all kinds of weather. It is very challenging to stick stunts in rain and snow but we are out there each game cheering on our team and getting the fans pumped up!
Outside of cheerleading, what is the talent or accomplishment of which you are most proud?
I am most proud of my track accomplishments. As a sprinter I have broken many records, some of which I still hold.
What are your future plans?
I am as of now on my way to becoming a registered nurse. I am still quite young so I try not to look too far into my future. I’d rather live life in the present and let what happens happen.
Think you have the bite to dance for a semi-pro football team?
The Venom Girls will be hosting a “Working Audition” on September 8, 2010 and September 22, 2010. Interested applicants should e-mail Noreen Smith at venomgirlsdanceteam@gmail.com. Auditions will be held at Diesel Fitness in Dallas, Texas from 8:00-10:00pm. There will be a $15.00 application fee due at the time of the audition.
Laura, Danni-Lynn, Stephanie, Priscilla, Cheryl and Jackie (click to enlarge)
The Eagles Countdown to Kickoff Party was held a week early this year, to avoid conflicting with a home Phillies game.
Danni-Lynn and Priscilla
The party started at 7:00, but the Cheerleaders weren’t scheduled to perform for another two-plus hours….
Laura and Stephanie
So, I bailed. Sorry that my commitment wasn’t there, but I didn’t sleep before and I was really dragging.
Reunited Soulmates Cheryl and Jackie
Plus I ha tickets to the Eagles finals pre-season game where I hoped to get plenty of action shots. Those photos will be up in a couple of days.
Elliot Harris
Chicago Sun-Times
The Luvabulls are good to go — to work to prepare for the 2010-11 season. The 24-woman dance team was selected recently. The Luvabulls will have 15 veterans and nine rookies. Here is a brief introduction to the newcomers on the squad. Something says you will be seeing more of them (especially in Quick Hits photo galleries) in the not-too-distant future.
Participants had to sweat out the results of the finals conducted at UIC, where fresh air (or even cool stale air) was tough to find.
By Mikel Kelly
The Tigard Times
As odd as it may sound, Stephanie Anderson quit her full-time job as a development assistant in university advancement at Southern California’s Chapman University just to try for a hard-to-get, part-time position in Portland.
A member of Tigard High School’s class of 2005, Anderson was recently named one of the 16 new BlazerDancers, following a rigorous July audition process that drew 11 existing members of the dance team along with 77 new hopefuls.
“The BlazerDancers is something I wanted to do for a long time,” said Anderson, whose resume lists dance training and experience at Chapman, with the Tigerettes dance team in high school, with the Junior Blazer Dancers and early years at the Westside Dance Academy in Tigard. “I felt I would have kicked myself if I didn’t try out this year. It was very hard to leave California, but I knew it was worth it.”
Anderson is now one of four women on the Blazers dance team with Tigard backgrounds. The others are Cristi Bitz, Leisel Stohr and Eri Janagawa.
What is it about Tigard that seems to inspire (not to mention actually qualify) young women to become a BlazerDancer?
Anderson couldn’t help but laugh about that, but then she gave it some thought because it had obviously crossed her mind.
“We all have some background in dance training at Westside Dance Academy,” she said. “And we were all on the Tigerettes.
“Tigard has groomed us well for being on a dance team,” she added.
The daughter of Steve and Mary Ann Anderson of Tigard, Stephanie graduated from the Conservatory of Music at Chapman in 2009. Although she’s always pursued dance, she also sings and acts.
“I just love to perform” she said. “It’s such an adrenaline rush.”
And the Rose Garden crowds for Trail Blazer games are big, loud and appreciative, she pointed out.
Being a BlazerDancer is not a full-time gig.
“We do get paid minimally for games and appearances,” she said. “It is definitely a part-time job.”
But it was not an easy one to get.
On the second day of tryouts, the field of hopefuls was cut down to 33 finalists – still more than twice as many as needed.
“The finalists spent the next week going through interviews with Trail Blazers representatives,” according to the team’s website, “practicing the three finals routines that they learned and creating a solo routine to perform at the finals.
“When the dancers arrived for the finals at the Winningstad Theater in Portland’s Center for the Performing Arts, they were surprised with an additional dance to perform and only one hour to prepare for it. Luckily, this was a free-style ‘hot time-out’ dance that didn’t require any choreography, but instead was meant to showcase the dancers’ personalities and their ability to have fun and play to the crowd.”
After they’d performed five routines, the dancers’ scores were tallied by the judges, and the audition process was over. Then they had to wait 24 hours to find out whether they had made the team.
“It was very intense,” Anderson said of the audition process. “You had to come ready – and I did feel ready.”
The “hot time-out” portion was unexpected, she said.
“That was a surprise, but you just kind of had to go for it,” she said. “You just think, ‘Oh, well, I’ve got nothing to lose,’ so you just go out there and do it.”
Meanwhile, she’s looking for other ways to keep busy, “whether it will be at the Rose Garden with BlazerDancers – hopefully for many seasons! – or on the theater stage while also keeping up with singing.”
“I love teaching and hope to pass along this love to young children,” she said. “I enjoy teaching dance classes and also choreographing for various dance teams and studios. I plan on helping a couple of dance teams around the area this next year with choreography.
Other long-term goals, she said, include working in a Portland-area university “on the administrative side.”
So, even though she’s technically only working part-time, Anderson is on a high right now.
“This is a huge deal,” she said. “I don’t know how I can fully express how excited I am.”
From Nashville Metromix:
Amidst a sea of flashbulbs and smoke, our very own Titans Cheerleaders strutted their stuff down the catwalk at Cabana on Tuesday night in barely-there bikinis. They were showing off their sizzling physiques for the packed house of friends, family and fans, that cheered nearly as loudly as the girls do on the field, in honor of the release of their 2010 Swimsuit Calendar. The girls looked absolutely gorgeous and it was the perfect event to kick off the season. They even stayed after the show to sign copies of their new calendar for everyone in the audience.
See all the photos here.
Order the Titans Swimsuit Calendar here.
I was fortunate enough to find a ticket for last Friday’s Redskins-Jets pre-season game. The New Meadowlands Stadium is impressive, but not as impressive as the Jets Flight Crew.
Before the game fans can meet members of the Flight Crew in the stadium store…
Or at the ESPN tent. (All horizontal photos can be clicked to enlarge)
The first ever Junior Flight Crew performed during halftime.
A Flight Crew line poses for an after-game photo.
Who: The Philadelphia Wings Official Dance Team, The Angels
What: Seeking talented new dancers to be a part of the 2011 Dance Team
When: Thursday, September 16th, 2009 at 6:00 p.m.
Where: Wells Fargo Center
3601 S. Broad St.
Philadelphia, PA 19148
Dancers 18 and up! This is your chance to perform in front of thousands at the Wachovia Center! You will also star in the Angels yearly calendar, gain media exposure, and more. Applicants must wear two piece dancewear and dance shoes to audition.
(No registration forms will be accepted in advance)
Colts Cheerleader Bailey was the cover model for the 2010 edition of Sideline Distraction Magazine.
Colts Cheerleaders with some Seattle Sea Gals. Click to enlarge
[Indianapolis Colts Cheerleaders]
Thanks to reader Kevin, who sent us a few photos of the Miami Dolphins Cheerleaders from last Friday’s game against the Falcons.
