Our good friend Donald Wells has directed cheerleaders for basketball, football and even cricket. Now he’s decided to try his hand at tennis.
He’s running the Washington Kastles Cheerleaders of World Team Tennis. They took the first photos of the squad last night, and more are coming soon.
[Washington Kastles Cheerleaders]
The Magic Dancers just returned last night from an NBA Event with Adidas in Madrid, Spain. Now they’re gearing up for auditions this holiday weekend.
[Magic Dancers Auditions Info]
First visit to the P-R-O Convention Denver Nuggets Dancers. On the left is Nuggets Dancers Director Amy Jo Wagner. I didn’t recognize her at first. She looks like she should still be dancing at USA Airways Center for the Phoenix Suns, Arizona Rattlers and Phoenix Mercury.
Joining Amy Jo on the trip was two-year veteran and team officer Krista.
The Nuggets Dancers are offering the widest and most comprehensive set of audition prep classes that I’ve come across. Nutrition, make-up, choreography, even resume writing. The classes run to mid-August and then auditions begin Saturday, August 14th.
[Nuggets Dancers Auditions Info]
After Open Call Auditions in the City on June 19th, the action shifted to Rutherford, NJ where the Nets Dancers Final Auditions were held on the evening of June 21st.
The Nets Dancers Auditions were sponsored by Sensible Portions.
The choreography was taught by Luam.
Before I move on to squad reports, I always like to put together an album of members of different squads.
After a very long Saturday at the Verizon Center and three round of cuts, thirty-seven Wizard Girls finalists remained. Sunday would begin with a photo shoot of the hopefuls in bikinis and the Wizard Girl Uniform.
Just one problem. The photographer wasn’t there!
So Wizard Girl Director Jessica Pikulsi asked me to fill in. I’m always willing to help, so I said “Yes”, but i was extremely nervous.
Normally I shoot a ton of photos and then pick out the best of the best. But here the girls would get only one shot. And I couldn’t advise or make suggestions on the pose. This was all part of the audition process.
Later in the hallway, I had a mini-debate with some of the ladies. The topic was “Who was more nervous?”. They had to pose in their skimpiest swimwear in front of a panel of judges. But I was so nervous I was sweating and shaking.
In the end most of my photos came out okay.
So many troubles this week! I’m posting this from Barnes & Noble. We had a big storm come through and knock out the power to my workplace and lots of other locations. If I missed your team, please let me know.
So this is who was at P-R-O last weekend in Atlanta:
Catie - AllPro3 Correspondent
The Billings Outlaws’ dance team, The Lady Outlaws, earned the IFL’s 2010 Best Dance Team Award for the most talented and most attractive dance team. Uniforms, class, routines, and crowd interaction were also factors in deciding the award.
Outlaws general manager and co-owner Adam Steadman gave credit to Tina Hirschkorn of The Dance Factory for helping the dance squad earn the award.
“I could not be more pleased that Tina and our dancers won this award,” said Steadman. “For all the criticism our dance teams have gotten in the years past, Tina deserves an enormous amount of credit for the success of this year’s dance team.”
Dance Studio 111 has room to spread out
by Coty Dolores Miranda
Arizona Republic
After 16 years, one of Ahwatukee’s leading dance studios, the Kimberly Lewis School of Dance, has moved to a new facility that is 4,000 square feet larger. And, in a move that surprised many, the studio changed its well-established name.
The school, formerly named after its founder and Ahwatukee resident Kimberly Lewis, is now known as Dance Studio 111. That reflects the suite number at its new location, 4910 E. Chandler Blvd., a strip mall that includes Madison Day Spa and LA Fitness.
“It’s a new studio, a new decade and a new name,” Lewis said. “It’s also a perfect location. We have a full glass-front studio where people can watch our students in class. Last night, we were running extra rehearsals and people driving by actually stopped and came in. They said they were impressed by the talent of our dancers.”
As a former professional dancer and founder and director of the Phoenix Suns dance team, Lewis is a good judge of talent. Her school has won three national dance championships and numerous regional awards.
The new facility boasts four dance rooms and a homework room.
State-of-the-art flooring is installed in all dance rooms – “a dream come true for students,” according to Lewis – and an improvement over the old studio’s wood floors.
Staff members are also enthusiastic. Carrie Matheus-Anders, artistic director since the studio opened, and one of the original Phoenix Suns dancers and choreographer, said that although the old studio was like home to her, the move means better class scheduling.
“After teaching for more than 16 years at KLSD, there’s a lot of nostalgia in leaving the old studio because we’ve been there so long. But we’d outgrown it,” she said. “I feel this is a fresh, new start, and with all the room, now they’ll be no problems in scheduling classes. We’ll be able to fit in all kinds of classes for all levels.”
Though the Dance Studio 111 grand opening celebration is scheduled for July 5, registration for summer and fall 2010 sessions began last week.
An addition this summer and fall is musical theater classes. In August, Lewis will audition the school’s inaugural Musical Theater Performing Company for ages 5 through adult.
“We want to give kids the opportunity to act, sing and dance,” Lewis said. “We’ll be performing routines from ‘The Lion King,’ ‘Mary Poppins,’ ‘The Wizard of Oz’ and other musical theater hits at various charity events, the Festival of Lights Kick-Off and other venues around the Valley.”
Lewis, who founded the Ahwatukee Foothills Nutcracker Ballet in 2000, said early registration is encouraged.
Classes are offered for children as young as 2 in ballet, tap, jazz, lyrical, contemporary, acrobatics, musical theater, technique, combo, hip-hop and pointe.
