The unofficial dance team of the New York Giants has a new name for the 2012-2013 season. Previously called the “UnOfficials,” the group is now the Gotham’s Team Blue Army Dancers. Gotham, obviously because it’s New York. They refer to it as the G-Team for short, which is a pretty clever way of referring to the Giants without actually saying “Giants”. The group’s name is a real mouthful. Even the acronym GTBAD is a mouthful, so my guess is they’ll be using a shortened form of that. Probably something along the lines of G-Team Dancers or Blue Army Dancers. In any case, whatever they call themselves, they will be offering workshops starting next month, in advance of their June 3 auditions. Click here for details.
Cheerleader tries out for third season
By Jesse Roman Staff writer
Salem News
March 30, 2012
SALEM — Salem native Siobhan O’Keefe will learn tomorrow whether she is one of 25 women chosen to be a New England Patriots cheerleader for the upcoming season.
It’s not quite as dramatic as it sounds. O’Keefe, a 22-year-old student at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, has been on the squad for the last two years and might seem like a shoo-in for another season.
“But every year, you have to retry out for your position,” O’Keefe said, sounding confident, but still a little anxious. “I’ve been practicing a lot and working very, very hard. I wanted to come in prepared.”
She’s up against 327 other determined women, so anything could happen.
As a Pats cheerleader, O’Keefe has already had experiences she will remember all her life.
She has been on the field in front of 70,000 fans for every Patriots home game during the last two years and was even on the turf in February at the Super Bowl in Indianapolis.
“It was breathtaking,” she said. “I was speechless, standing on the field next to the players tunnel and taking it all in.”
She has made television appearances and traveled the world, visiting U.S. troops in Afghanistan, Qatar and Kyrgyzstan, and has been whisked away to exotic locales for annual calendar shoots.
Understandably, O’Keefe likes being a cheerleader for perhaps the most successful franchise in the National Football League; the position is the perfect synergy of her two passions.
“I love dancing, and I love the Patriots,” she said.
O’Keefe has danced most of her life at Dance Enthusiasm in Salem, and she captained the Salem High School cheerleading squad her senior year. She joined the UMass dance team almost immediately after arriving on campus and, on a whim, went with a few of her dance teammates to an open Patriots cheerleader tryout. After showing off her dancing for the coaches, she passed public-speaking tests, kick tests, fitness tests and other measures of ability. Then she had to get through the four-page written test all about football.
That was not a problem. Some of O’Keefe’s fondest memories are of Sunday afternoons with her family gathered around the television to watch the Pats.
“My family is really close, and we all love the Patriots,” she said. “My uncle would make a big family dinner every Sunday, and we’d get together and watch the game.”
Soon, she will be back with her family in front of the TV watching those games because even if O’Keefe does make the team tomorrow, the upcoming season will be her last. On the Patriots, there is a three-year limit for cheerleaders.
“It’s bittersweet. It will be good because it’s such a huge time commitment,” said O’Keefe, who has already signed on to be an accountant in Boston after she graduates in May. “It will be nice to have some time again, but there’s nothing like it.”
The benefits are great, but being a Patriots cheerleader is no cakewalk.
Cheerleaders must attend three-hour practices twice a week, every week. On practice days, O’Keefe spends most of the day in class at UMass, hits the gym, then drives two hours to Gillette Stadium in Foxborough. When she arrives at 6 p.m., she has an hour to warm up before the rigorous three-hour practice that finishes by 10 p.m. Her day is finally over when she gets back to school at midnight.
On game days, O’Keefe gets to the stadium five hours early to go over the routines the squad has been working on through the week.
It’s that dedication, and all that time with her teammates, that will also be the hardest to let go of, she said.
“I’ll miss all the girls there. You’re working so hard in practice and sweating next to the best ladies in New England,” she said. “It’s wonderful to be surrounded by such great personalities. People who are just like you, striving for the same goals.”
And during Patriots home games, she admits, “I’m not even going to know what to do with myself.”
Click here to check out photos of the Flyers ice crew in action.
By Peter Mucha
Philly.com
3/29/2012
No way the front office would let Eagles fans help pick players.
But more than 100 season ticket holders voted Wednesday night on prospective cheerleaders.
Each of 101 young women – including a pair of identical twins and 30 members of last season’s squad – had to introduce herself and perform a dance routine at the NovaCare Complex in South Philadelphia.
“This is the most competitive group that we’ve seen at the semifinals,” said cheerleading director Barbara Zaun, part of the panel of seven judges.
“In addition to being very beautiful and very talented dancers, they are very accomplished women in terms of their education and their careers,” she said.
The 101 were chosen from about 500 wannabes at Saturday’s Open Call auditions at Lincoln Financial Field.
Only the 2005 post-Super Bowl auditions saw more applicants.
The season ticket holders, who cast their own ballots, were quite impressed with the semifinalists, Zaun said.
The sixty finalists selected included the twins (both Drexel students) and all 30 squad members seeking to return.
They’ll compete April 24 at the Kimmel Center’s Perelman Theater. The $24 tickets for the 7:30 p.m. event are on sale through www.kimmelcenter.org.
Another fan opportunity is annual calendar shoot, scheduled tentatively for May 10 to 14 in Nassau, the Bahamas.
“This is a going to be a friends and family package, so fans who want to come along on the trip would be welcome,” Zaun said.
Details should be available soon on www.philadelphiaeagles.com, she said.
Last season, the squad debuted the NFL’s first cheerleader calendar app, and the response was great, Zaun said.
“It was incredibly popular with our fans, and we did receive a lot of recognition,” she said.
It made a Top 10 list for sports-related apps, and is up next month for a Webby award, she said.
Indianapolis Colts
Mar 23, 2012
New this year: your chance to get an inside look at cheerleader auditions!
Join us for the first round of the Colts Cheerleaders’ 2012 auditions—will your favorites have what it takes to become a Sweetheart of the Horseshoe? Tune in live at colts.com/live on Saturday, March 31st starting at 9:30 a.m.!
I was beginning to wonder if the Pistons were ever going to update their website with the 2011-12 dance team. At last, they finally have. Click here to check the Detroit Pistons Dancers.
Philly.com: The second round of auditions for the 2012 Eagles cheerleaders was held on Wednesday, March 24 at the NovaCare Complex. The field of 120 contestants was narrowed down to 60. [Watch the video]
Click here to check out Delaware Online’s gallery of photos from last Saturday’s open call audition.
KHOU.com
March 10, 2012
Dancers from all over the Houston area gathered at the University of Houston-Downtown Student Life Center Saturday to try out for the 2012 Dynamo Girls squad.
News Fix Houston
KIAH
March 12, 2012
HOUSTON, TX—The annual Houston Dynamo Girls auditions took center stage on Saturday, March 10 at the University of Houston downtown campus.
The Dynamo finalized their roster on the soccer field, now it’s the ladies turn to complete their line-up on the dance floor.
“When you start going you’re like, ‘am I getting it? Oh my God.’ You kind of like freak out,” Alejandra Leal, a Dynamo Girls hopeful, said with a smile.
It would be easy to freak out, especially since there’s “a lot of choreography that they’re actually learning [on the spot],” Luisa Baquero, a Dynamo Girls co-captain, said.
They’re learning fast in hopes of earning their spot to perform at Dynamo home games.
The Dynamo Girls roster isn’t finalized just yet.
“We’ll have two weeks of interviews and after that we’ll hold our final auditions on March 24, and we’ll make our selection the following day,” Marilu Harman, a Houston Dynamo dance team director and former Dallas Mavericks dancer, said.
OK ladies when is the last time the Dynamo won the MLS Cup?
“Now you’re putting me on the spot,” said Leal smiling when asked by the Fix.
Tabitha Fuller, a Dynamo Girls hopeful, responded with “2007”. That’s correct. In fact, the Dynamo won back-to-back MLS Cups in 2006 and 2007.
“If you’re going into a Houston soccer team, you need to know something about it,” Lithia Garcia, a Dynamo Girls hopeful and student at University of Houston, said.
Garcia is right, too.
Best of luck to the ladies, and, hey, if things don’t work out, “You’ve got to keep getting out auditioning, taking classes. The more you try it, the closer you get to your goal. And you can be a professional cheer leader if that’s what you ultimately want to be,” said Harman.
To whoever ultimately makes the cut, congratulations from the Fix.
