Sacramento Kings: Meet the 18 finalists vying to become 2012-13 Sacramento Kings Dancers. Check out their bios, photos and videos, then cast your vote daily for your favorite dancers through June 24, 2012. Who Will Make the Team? You Choose! [click here]
Auditions are underway for the 2012-13 Washington Wizards dance team! Click here to check out some photos from the first day of tryouts.
The 2012 auditions for the Charlotte Bobcats dance team kicked off on Saturday. After a competitive first day, the pool of candidates has been narrowed down to 32 finalists. Click here for photos from the audition, and Click here to see who made the finals!
By Bryan Joiner
New York Observer
June 14, 2012
The Observer lankered out to Brooklyn Bowl last night still trying to square the circle of a professional sports team moving to unkempt Brooklyn, but the team is doing its best job to erase that dissonance by inviting us to some killer parties before the losing starts. This particular party? Cheerleader tryouts. If you insist.
We were there to watch 27 dancers compete in an “American Idol”-like competition to determine the final spots on the dance squad, whose name at the event was revealed to be the cheeky “Brooklynettes.”
While we waited, heaping cuts of Jay-Z and Biggie boomed over the loudspeakers from DJ Eleven, and we couldn’t help bopping our heads with everyone else, mouthing the words when we knew them.
We took a spot near the action, perched above the stage. Just below it mingled photographers straining their practiced bored looks and excited reporters for small-time media outlets. In just the right lighting, they looked as pretty and well-dressed as everyone else. The dancers were a blur, all flesh and movement. David Diamante, who is also the Nets’ public address announcer, emceed the contest, announcing the women by their first names. It was all very gentleman’s clubby, except for the dreadlocks down to his waist.
A screeching in our left ear led us to strike up a conversation with Long Islander Kimberly Bodden, a stylist for Brooklyn Heights’ City Chemist. She did the makeup for the auditions, and had her favorites, specifically Melissa Timothy-Tozer, the only Brooklyn-bred one of the bunch. She said Melissa’s “Brooklyn comes out” on stage when she “gets into it.” “You can tell the way they pop their bodies if their heart is into it.” We watched the bodies popping for signs, as instructed.
Ms. Bodden’s hunch was correct. Melissa, like most of the girls there, made the team. As coach Adar Wellington—a sophisticated stunner in her own right—told us, this was mostly for picking out the final few spots, and, it was implied by the TV trucks outside and presence of heavyweight Bronx-born choreographer Rhapsody Jones as one of the judges, public relations. Ms. Wellington has been working hard to mold the team and its routine into something that screams “Kings County,” forgoing her typical offseason. “You’ll know we’re in Brooklyn when we walk in,” she promised.
As designer of the team’s uniforms, David Dalrymple also tried to create something distinctly BK. He said he was “really excited about the color statement, color story,” the “sophisticated” black and white compared to the team’s bleedy old red, white and blue. As he spoke, a blur of skateboarders bloomed past in an amazing color statement, color story, totally ignoring the media circus, which included famed designer and ginger Patricia Field lamenting the 1957 move of the Dodgers before reaching for a cigarette.
A few dancers got our attention during the auditions. Jordan, from Charlotte, was a contortionist who basically separated her gummy shoulder on stage just for the whip. She was, like Ms. Field, a coppertop. Most of the dancers were blondes or brunettes. She was making it. Same with Melissa and India, who had loaded the crowd with supporters, sending them into Bieber-like hysterics when she popped her body. Her heart was into it, we think.
For Melissa, it was a commencement and coronation all at once. The LaGuardia High School graduate and Flatbush native said she immediately thought, “There’s gotta be a dance team!” when she first heard about the team’s move. She had tried out for other teams in Philadelphia, but this was serendipity, and in some ways, last night was her show, and everyone knew it. Pomp aside, 50+ gigs for a working dancer is nothing to sneeze at.
Before we left, Ms. Bodden, the stylist, sought us out. She was proud of herself for picking Melissa earlier in the night. “I told you she was good. She’s just got that energy,” she said in her Long Island brogue, then disappeared back into the colorful crowd, heading through the local hipsters for the bar, all sophistication in her black-and-white T-shirt.
This just in: the date for the 2012 Atlanta Hawks Cheerleaders audition has changed.
The new date is Saturday, July 14, not June 22.
Write it down and circle in in red because if you show up next weekend, you’ll be
all by your lonesome.
Rich Calder
The New York Post
June 14, 2012
Meet the Brooklynettes.
The Brooklyn Nets last night selected a new 20-member dance team that will perform during game days beginning next season at the new Barclays Center.
Formerly known as the Nets Dancers during the club’s days in New Jersey, the dance group during an event at Brooklyn Bowl in Williamsburg also revealed its new black-and-white logo — and hot off-season uniforms.
“Brooklynettes exemplifies a strong feminine name with a creative connection to the borough,” said Petra Pope, senior vice president of Event Marketing and Community Relations for the Brooklyn Nets, in a statement. “The 20 talented dancers selected last night are diverse in their interests, global in their backgrounds, and cutting-edge in their style, just like Brooklyn. We are looking forward to weaving the innovative and unique expressions of the borough into everything we do.”
The logo, designed by the Brooklyn Nets creative department, features a bold shield shape to symbolically identify the team with the strength and character of Brooklyn, according to a press release. The script is choreographic to signify the movement of a dancer. The graffiti-style logotype captures the urban landscape of Brooklyn, says the release.
More than 400 female dancers auditioned.
David Dalrymple designed the off-season uniforms and will design the in-season uniforms. Dalrymple has created outfits for many of the leading women in entertainment, including Beyonce, Pink, Mary J. Blige, Jennifer Lopez, and the dancers on Madonna’s world tour.
The Brooklynettes, presented by Crunch Fitness, will perform at all Brooklyn Nets games at Barclays Center and represent the Brooklyn Nets at events throughout the New York metropolitan area and internationally.
The Colts have posted loads of great photos of this year’s team. Click here to check them out!
Voting continues. This week, it’s Kristy vs. Missy. Which one should be on the cover of the annual Minnesota Vikings Cheerleaders swimsuit calendar? Click here to vote!
