Philadelphia Fight Vixens Dance Team presented by CaRu Entertainment
Date: Sunday, March 14, 2010
Time: 12 p.m. — 5 p.m.
Location: Conshohocken Health and Fitness, 1100 East Hector Street,
Conshohocken, PA 19428
Wardrobe: Dance shorts, sports bra/mid-drift and dance sneakers. Feel free to bring warm-ups for pre-performance. Come hair and make-up ready.
What to expect: Choreography will be taught by the professionals of CaRu Entertainment, based out of New York City. The combination will be performed in front of a panel of judges, which will include CaRu and Fight representatives. Finalists will be interviewed by the panel after the performance round.
Requirements: Previous dance/performance experience is strongly preferred. Physically fit. Must be 18 years of age or older by March 14, 2010, and a high school graduate.
Please register by submitting a recent photograph/headshot and a brief bio to: auditions@caruentertainment.com.
On the day of auditions, please bring the $10 entry fee with the completed application form (to be provided). Checks can be made payable to CaRu Entertainment, LLC.
Rugby League is one of the most popular professional sports on the international stage, and is rapidly growing in the United States. The Fight Vixens presented by CaRu Entertainment, LLC, is one of only two dance teams for rugby league in the U.S. so this is your chance to be at the forefront of a rising trend. Dance team members are expected to attend all practices, all Fight home games and take part in appearances and events during the season.
To learn more about the Philadelphia Fight visit: www.fightrugby.com
Questions or for more information, email auditions@caruentertainment.com.
From LRBears.com:
Christy Creson is entering her first year as Lenoir-Rhyne University’s Spirit Advisor. Creson, who will officially begin her duties on March 15, 2010, will oversee the school’s cheerleading team, SugarBears Dance Team and mascots.
Creson has been involved with dance and cheerleading for 23 years. Creson is trained in cheerleading, ballet, jazz, contemporary, lyrical and hip-hop.
As a student at Gardner-Webb, Creson was on the co-ed competition squad that competed in the NCA College Nationals.
Creson, a Lenoir-Rhyne University graduate, was a member of the cheerleading squad and helped start the original SugarBears Dance Team. In 2006, Creson was awarded Dancer Of The Year from L-R.
Creson has worked with Cheersport, Inc., All Day Cheerleading, Inc., All-Star Cheerleading in addition to choreographing for the Lenoir-Rhyne Playmakers and teaching studio dance.
Creson was an inaugural dance team member of the Charlotte Bobcats Dance Team in 2004.
For the past two seasons, Creson has coached the inaugural Bulldolls Dance Team at Gardner-Webb and was a cheerleader for the Carolina Panthers TopCats in 2008.
Creson is married to Jacob Creson (Lenoir-Rhyne, Class of 2006).
By Raquel White Davis
Hattiesburg American
In the spring of 1992, at the age of 19, I became a cheerleader for the New Orleans Saints.
Here I was, a girl from Petal, Mississippi, cheering for a professional football team. My career lasted four glorious years until I decided to put away the pompoms and complete my degree at Southern Miss.
The experience was incredible and I cherish the time I spent with the team as a member of the Saintsations.
I, like all Saints fans, am a BELIEVER. I never stop believing. I knew this year was going to be the one.
Back in October, I woke my husband at 1 o’clock in the morning to tell him that I wanted to go to the Super Bowl. His response: “WHAT? You, don’t even know that the Saints will go!”
To which I replied: “Yes I do! I feel it in my heart. I want to buy tickets tonight!”
To which he replied: “I’m going back to bed.”
From then on to the day of the NFC Championship game, I continued to remind him that I was planning on going to the Super Bowl. Before we entered the Superdome to watch the Saints defeat the Vikings, my husband made a phone call and ordered our Super Bowl tickets. It was risky, but I believed. We were headed to Miami!
So there we were, standing outside Sun Life Stadium im Miami for the greatest moment in New Orleans Saints history. It was incredible.
There were concerts, vendors, displays, activities, oh, and the Lombardi Trophy surrounded by guards. There was so much to see and do outside of the stadium that it was slightly overwhelming.
As we made our way in to the stadium, we kept turning to each other saying, “We are at the Super Bowl.” We said it over and over, I guess, in an effort to convince ourselves it was really happening.
When we took our seats and I glanced down to the field at the Saintsations lined up waiting for the team to arrive, I pictured myself down there. How desperately I wanted to be one of them on that field Sunday for this historical event.
My husband and I stayed until the bitter end after the game, being sure to take in all that the moment had to offer. We didn’t want to miss a thing.
With the remaining Saints fans, we stood over the tunnel to watch each of the World Champion Saints leave the field. As each one left I cheered and stood proud for my team and what they had accomplished.
As I watched the Saintsations run off the field, I felt excited for them and envious of them at the same time.
Some of these girls have only been on this earth for less than 20 years, half of the time that many Saints fans have waited for this very moment. I wondered, do they realize what a tremendous opportunity they were just given? Do they realize the magnitude of the moment for so many people? Do they TRULY realize that they are a part of a team that just made history?
I am not saying they do not know how tremendous it is to win a Super Bowl. What I am saying is… do they REALIZE … in their hearts … do they realize? I sure hope so.
For myself, I do realize what this game was all about and I am very grateful that I was able to be there, even if it was from the stands and not the field. I will forever know being at Super Bowl XLIV was one of the greatest and most exciting moments of my life.
My career with the Saintsations ended in 1995 when I chose to step away and finish my degree. I may no longer have an official position on the field, but I will NEVER stop being a cheerleader for the New Orleans Saints.
My pompoms and uniform may now be keepsakes, but in my heart I am still a Saintsation and I will forever bleed BLACK & GOLD!
Former Saintsation Raquel White Davis graduated from Petal High School in 1990 and from the University of Southern Mississippi in 1997. She is the daughter of Richard and Janell White of Petal and is married to Ashley Davis of D’Lo. She is the mother of twins London Ashley and Landry Parker (5 1/2 years old) and is an executive pharmaceutical sales representative for GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals. She resides in Gadsden, Ala.
Former Miami Dolphins Cheerleader Melissa Burnos has released a new single, NME.
Download NME from Amazon.com.
The Tulsa Talons are proud to announce the addition of Andrea Collins as the Director of the Talons Cheerleaders and Caitlin Hoagland as the team’s Choreographer.
ANDREA COLLINS-Director
Andrea is entering her sixth year with the Tulsa Talons Cheerleaders. She has been involved with dance for most of her life. She became an assistant dance teacher at the age of 12, a lead teacher by the age of 15 at Fun Times Dance & Gymnastics, and has continued teaching for the past 10 years. She has coached and choreographed for several cheer and dance teams in the Tulsa area as well as production numbers at the college level. Andrea has competed nationally for many years. She is a graduate of Jenks High School, where she was a member of the Jenks Pom squad for four years. She received her Bachelor’s of Science in Finance & Accounting at Oklahoma State University in 2007. She is currently working as a Staff Accountant for SMG Tulsa.
“I am excited to be the director of the AF1 Tulsa Talons Cheerleaders. After being a Talons dancer for five years, I am looking forward to being part of a professional dance team and what the new AF1 will bring to Tulsa.”
CAITLIN HOAGLAND-Choreographer
Originally from Tulsa, Caitlin started dancing in middle school and continued on to Tulsa Memorial Pom squad, where she was an officer all four years, and captain her senior year. She since has taken hip-hop through Extension Dance Academy, Applause Studio, and Tulsa Ballet. Caitlin started coaching her sophomore year of high school and has been coaching for the past eight years. Caitlin will be entering her 3rd year with the Tulsa Talons Cheerleaders. She currently teaches hip-hop at Extension Dance Academy in Broken Arrow, and choreographs for and teaches technique to other surrounding area dance teams. She is the coach for Byrd Middle School’s Varsity Pom Team and Booker T. Washington’s Varsity Pom Team. She currently is pursuing a pre-law degree at OSU, as well as an assistant manager at Vector Marketing.”I am absolutely thrilled about the opportunity to choreograph for the Tulsa Talons Cheerleaders. Being able to come in when the Talons have made the switch to AF1 is very exciting! I can’t wait for more people to know and gain respect for my choreography, the team, and our program.”
The tryouts for the 2010 Talons cheerleading team will be held on Saturday, February 27th from 1:30-6pm and Sunday, February 28th from 2-5pm at Gold’s Gym (6612 S. Memorial Drive). Go to www.tulsatalons.com or call 294-1000 for more information.
By Stephanie Godlewski
Pacific Daily News
Amid rustling pom-poms and 1,000-watt smiles Chamorrita Pia Gillan stands out.
The 22-year-old Seattle Sea Gals cheerleader and Nimitz Hill native got the chance to perform for military personnel yesterday.
During halftime of the Super Bowl at Top O’ the Mar, Gillan took the stage with her squad and had both Indianapolis Colts and New Orleans Saints fans cheering.
In attendance was her 13-year-old sister Mylisa Gillan.
“I knew she danced but when she got this big I was like, ‘Wow, good job,'” Mylisa Gillan said. “My mom goes all out. She’s so excited. When she found out Pia made it, she went up to everyone and was like, ‘My daughter’s a Sea Gal!'”
Pia Gillan said the support of her family has been great, but being away from them is the hardest part of living in Seattle.
Being a Sea Gal makes it worth it.
“It’s been a crazy year. A few months before I graduated I made the team. I made the team in April then I graduated in June. As soon as we made the team, the next week it was practice, practice, practice. All throughout the summer every weekend, once throughout the week,” Pia Gillan said. “It was just hectic and the season didn’t actually start until August. We were practicing for that and games every Sunday. Appearances left and right, which I love. That’s probably my favorite part about being a Sea Gal — then this tour.”
Pia Gillan said she plans to go out for the squad again in April. All the girls must try out each year but Sea Gal veterans are automatically in the audition finals.
While she hopes to cheer on the Seahawks for another year, her long-term plans have her heading back to school.
“I’m trying to study for the LSATs this year. Taking a break, then trying to go to law school next year, 2011,” she said.
By Scott Cronick
Atlantic City Press
Jen Raftery may have the coolest part-time job ever.
Like most 20-year-old college students, the Ocean City native goes to her classes and does plenty of studying as a communications major at Pace University in New York City.
But when she boards the bus to New Jersey for work, it’s to perform in front of thousands of people as a member of the New Jersey Nets dance team.
Raftery, whose parents, Thomas and Suzanne, reside in Ocean City, did some acting and singing in high school and took dance lessons at The Dance Place of Ocean City. After getting the performance bug, she decided to audition for the New York Knicks two years ago, but she wasn’t chosen.
She did, however, become a member of the dance team for the former New York Titans in the National Lacrosse League. So when NBA dance tryouts came around again, she auditioned for the Nets’ team, competing against 300 other women and securing one of 15 spots on the team.
“There is some intense competition,” said Raftery, the youngest member on the team who wants to work in the broadcast business after graduation, possibly as a casting director. “I absolutely love it. It’s like nothing I’ve ever done before. The dancing is fun, but it’s also extremely challenging. Between school and this, it’s a little overwhelming. But I would do it if I didn’t get paid. The money helps, though, It’s sure better than being a waitress or something like that.”
By Sheila Stroup
The Times-Picayune
For Christine “Chrissy” Hamilton, cheering the Saints on Sunday in Sun Life Stadium still seems like a dream.
“I kept saying, ‘Please pinch me. This doesn’t feel real,'” she says.
The first half of the game went by in a flash.
“I couldn’t believe it was already halftime,” she says. “I didn’t want the game to be half over.”
Hamilton, 23, knew the Super Bowl performance would be her last one as a Saintsation.Director Lesslee Fitzmorris lets cheerleaders stay on the team a maximum of four years and then launches them “into the real world.”
“I want them to be our leaders of tomorrow,” she says.
She asked Hamilton to stay for a fifth year because her first year as a Saintsation was interrupted by Hurricane Katrina.
“She’s a great role model, a great example of someone who has triumphed over adversity,” Fitzmorris says. “Chrissy lost everything in the storm.”
Hamilton grew up in Chalmette. She was a student at Xavier University College of Pharmacy in New Orleans in August 2005. Her family had moved into their brand new house earlier in the year.
“The storm left 15 feet of water in it,” she says.
Hamilton Enterprises, the 30-year-old family furniture and hardware business her dad and his three brothers ran, flooded, too.
“The store was our life. My mom and dad had never done anything else,” she says “It was such a heart-wrenching time for us.”
When her family evacuated, Hamilton took three days worth of clothes and her Saintsations uniforms with her.
“That was something Lesslee taught us,” she says. “Don’t evacuate without your uniforms.”
Her family stayed in Panama City, Fla., for three months, and Hamilton wasn’t able to get to the Saints games that were played in San Antonio. But she did make it to the game against the New York Giants that was played in Giants stadium on Sept. 19, 2005.“That was great because a bunch of girls from other NFL teams sent us care packages,” she says. “They gave us underwear, pajamas, tennis shoes, toiletries — all the things we had lost. That really gave us some spirit and uplifted us in such hard times.”
The only other regular game Hamilton made it to that season was the game against the Carolina Panthers that was played at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge.
“It was just such a hard year I didn’t want to go back for my second year,” she says. “But my mom said, ‘Just give it a try.'”
By then, her parents, David and Lisa Hamilton, had come back home to rebuild their home and the family business in Chalmette, and she was back in pharmacy school at Xavier.
She decided to listen to her mom, and she’s thrilled she did.
“I’ve had a blast ever since,” she says. “The Saintsations helped make me the person I am today, and I think Lesslee for that all the time.”
Hamilton says she used to be so shy she was reluctant to put in her own order at McDonalds. Now, she can walk into a room and carry on a conversation with someone she’s never met before. And the once timid young woman is on the cover of the 2010 Saintsations Swimsuit Calendar.
In addition to gaining confidence, she has learned time management, something you need when you’re a full-time college student, work at Walgreen’s in Chalmette, have dance practice three times a week, and make frequent public appearances.
“It’s been a busy year,” she says.
It has also been the best year of her life.
“When I think back to four years ago, when I didn’t what the future would hold, it just seems amazing,” she says.
One highlight of the season was having her sister Brittany, 20, join the Saintsations. Another was the Sept. 3 Saints game against Miami in the Super Dome. It was her birthday, and her boyfriend, Brandon Licciardi, proposed to her in front of 68,000 people.
“It was a complete surprise,” she says. “We’re getting married on April 2, 2011.”
Hamilton will cherish her years as a Saintsation, but she’s looking forward to getting launched into the real world.
She’ll graduate from pharmacy school, a six-year program, in May, and then she’ll have time to plan her wedding. She and Licciardi will live in St. Bernard Parish.
“My fiance is a police officer in St. Bernard Parish, and he’s committed to the parish,” she says. “And we’re both really devoted to our families. We could never leave home.”
A year ago, Hamilton was chosen by her teammates to represent them as part of the cheerleading squad at the 2009 NFL Pro Bowl in Honolulu, and she thought that experience would be hard to top.
“But being at the Super Bowl with the Saints was a hundred times better,” she says. “I can’t even put into words how great it was, but I will remember it for the rest of my life.”
2010 GODDESSES OPEN CALL
Try Out for the Hottest Dance Team in Arena Football!
The Goddesses will be holding tryouts on Friday, February 19, 2010. Registration for the tryout begins at 6:00 p.m. with the audition beginning promptly at 6:30 p.m. The tryout will be held at Euphoria Health & Fitness, the Official Practice Facility of the Goddesses, located at 20445 Emerald Parkway, Cleveland, OH 44135. All participants must be 18 years of age or older as of February 19, 2010 and a high school graduate.
The cost of participating in the open dance tryout is $25. To pre-register, interested participants must pay by credit card only by visiting www.clevelandgladiators.com.
Cash or money order will be the only accepted payment the day of the tryout. The fee is non-refundable.
Tryouts will be judged on dance ability, appearance, personality and attitude. Participants will be taught a routine and do not need to prepare their own.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
** Must wear 2-piece dance wear with a midriff top, lycra shorts and appropriate dance footwear.
** Be sure to bring a photo and resume with you
** Those that are invited back should be expected to be available all day on Saturday, February 20th for additional rounds of the audition. Interview will take place on Saturday morning at the Cleveland Gladiator office located at 631 Huron Road Cleveland, OH 44115 and the second round of auditions will be held Saturday evening at Euphoria Health & Fitness (times are to be announced.)
Co-ed Kickoff Crew Tryouts
Come Stunt, Cheer and Fire Up the Best Fans in Arena Football!
The Kickoff Crew will be holding tryouts on Friday, February 12, 2010. Registration for the tryout begins at 6:00 p.m. with the audition beginning promptly at 6:30 p.m. The tryout will be held at Tumbles & Cheers, 1502 Lear Industrial Parkway, Avon, OH 44011. All participants must be 18 years of age or older and a high school graduate. Please bring ID. This is a co-ed team.
The cost of participating in the tryout is $25. To pre-register, interested participants must pay by credit card only by visiting www.clevelandgladiators.com.
Cash or money order will be the only accepted payment the day of the tryout. The fee is non-refundable.
Tryouts will be judged on stunting and tumbling ability, personality and appearance.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
** Girls should wear a form-fitting midriff top, lycra shorts and appropriate footwear.
** Men should wear a tight fitting t-shirt and appropriate footwear.
** If you make it past the first round, the finals will be on Saturday, February 13th from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Another author to add to the list: Susan Crook, former Assistant Director for the Kansas City Chiefs.
Personality Insights for Moms (Personality Insights for … Series)
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“Personality Insights for Moms,” by Susan Crook has been selected for the prestigious 2006 Parent to Parent Adding Wisdom Award in four categories, 1) PARENTING BOOK; 2) EDUCATIONAL PRODUCTS; 3) CHILDREN’S HEALTH & WELL-BEING; 4) GIFTS FOR MOMS. Parent to Parent is the only award program to ever be honored by Disney.com.
