Last Saturday, the Houston Dynamo held their annual Dynamo Girls Tryouts, presented by Palais Royal for the 2012 season. More than 100 girls attended the tryouts, but only 40 were selected for the final audition to be held on March 24.
Anne Marie Conde selected as one of eight new members.
Norton Patch
March 15, 2012
The New England Revolution soccer team selected eight new members to add to its “Rev Girl” squad Tuesday night during a heated audition at the Greatest Bar. Anne Marie Conde, a Norton native, beat out the competition by landing a final spot as a new 2012 Rev Girl.
A slew of celebrity judges including The Voice’s James Massone from Wakefield, NESN Daily’s Dara McIntosh and BostonTweet’s Tom O’Keefe helped to narrow the field of 17 Rev Girl prospects down to the final eight, based on three audition rounds that tested their minds, team spirit and ability to excite a crowd.
During the first round, emcee Dave Russo, a local comedian and DirtyWater TV personality, quizzed the 17 contestants on Revolution team trivia. Following the team trivia, the contestants broke off into groups, where they were given 10 minutes to learn the team chant from veteran Rev Girls, and went on to perform for the judges and crowd.
The third component of the audition was to judge the girls on their fan involvement. One of the primary tasks of the Rev Girls is to act as brand ambassadors at community events, so candidates were turned loose on the crowd and asked to interact, engage and handout swag. It was a close competition and in the end the following prospects prevailed.
Katerina Akrivlellis (Dover, Mass.) – 20
Anne Marie Conde (Norton, Mass.) – 25
Kimberly Howe (Boston, Mass.) – 22
Holly Johnson (Tyngsborough, Mass.) – 26
Kelsey Kneeland (Shrewsbury, Mass.) – 22
Anjha Thomas (Ashland, Mass.) – 21
Danielle Tousignane (Chelmsford, Mass.) – 22
Jessica May Wright (Manchester, N.H.) – 21
By Megan Johnson
Boston Herald
March 18, 2012
Paula Abdul, Madonna, even Snooki: Some of the most famous stars in Hollywood scored their first starring roles at the top of a pep rally pyramid.
That’s right, before they rose to fame for spewing nonsense at talent-show contestants, Voguing, or inappropriate pregnancies, each of those ladies was once a high school cheerleader.
So in the spirit of hunting down the next Madonna — and possibly seeing a girl fall off the top of a pyramid — I jumped at the chance to judge the final auditions for the 2012 Rev Girls squad, the New England Revolution’s pom-pom girls. After all, I have seen “Bring it On” about 50 times, so I think I’m pretty qualified.
The event was emceed by Boston comic Dave Russo, who was VERY eager to tell me that he came in second on a reality show a few years ago (“The Entertainer,” hosted by Wayne Newton. Remember it? Didn’t think so…)
Along with my esteemed co-judges (Translation: Fellow media folk and “The Voice” star James Massone, who’s currently prepping to compete on Cee Lo Green’s team) we packed into The Greatest Bar. There, I helped whittle the 17 finalists down to eight winners based on four areas of expertise: trivia knowledge, overall appearance, group cheering, and crowd interaction.
The best moment by far came during the trivia portion of our program, when the ladies had the opportunity to share their vast knowledge on the sport of soccer and the Revs.
“Name five players on the New England team,” asked Russo.
You could have heard crickets. Not a single hand shot up, so Dave had to go with his plan B, which was to “name one member of the New England team.” That was a much more successful pursuit.
But despite your assumptions about cheerleaders, the lovely women were a pretty diverse crew.
“I’m a lifelong dancer, and I’ve always wanted to get into it professionally,” said Kelsey Kneeland, a brainy redhead who’s studying strategic management and entrepreneurship at Babson College. “I’ve always been in a sorority, but I’m graduating from college in May and I want to stay a part of an organization.”
Way to use that business degree, Kels!
When all was yelled and done, the eight new Rev Girls are: Dover homegal Katerina Akrivlellis, Kelsey Kneeland from Shrewsbury, Jessica May Wright from Manchester, N.H., Tyngsboro gal Holly Johnson, Anne Marie Conde from Norton, Ashland’s Anjha Thomas, Danielle Tousignant of Chelmsford and Kimberly Howe from Boston.
Rah, rah, rah.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nerevolution/sets/72157629596893591/with/6841035494/
Bombers’ cheerleaders go co-ed
By Jim Bender
Winnipeg Sun
March 27, 2012
The Winnipeg Blue Bombers’ Blue Lightning Dance team is undergoing a transformation to a co-ed and stunt team for the 2012 season, the CFL club announced Tuesday.
The new team will incorporate a high level of athletic stunts into the routines to complement the on-field dancers.
The Bombers have hired coaches who are currently working with the University of Manitoba Bisons cheer team. They bring with them a number of years of experience in co-ed stunting at a national level. They have also produced teams that have travelled and performed throughout North America.
“The current team has always been highly entertaining for fans and this change inevitably will bring in a different level of athleticism and added entertainment value to game days,” said a team release.
Tryouts for the 2012 team will take place at the McPhillips Station Casino in the Upper Deck Sports Bar on April 22. Registration will begin at noon and participants must be 18 years old to try out. Tryouts will be open to the public. However, everyone must be at least 18 to attend.
[Click here for audition details]
The Jazz have finally updated their dance team pages. They have individual profiles and lots of individual photos. Sadly, none of the dancers are in uniform, which bums me out a little. I want them to look like a dance team. (Don’t get me wrong. They look great! But there are lots of pretty girls in the world. Very few are, have been, or ever will be Utah Jazz Dancers. Wear it with pride!) Anywho… click here to learn more about this year’s team!
Click here to check out Jacksonville.com’s extensive collection of photos from the first couple of rounds of this year’s auditions for the Jacksonville Jaguars Cheerleaders!
Philadelphia Eagles.com: The Eagles hosted the Cheerleader Open Call Auditions at Lincoln Financial Field on Saturday. More than 500 hopefuls showed up to show off their stuff in front of a panel of judges. The group will be trimmed down through the process until the final 38 are chosen in late April. [Watch the video]>/a>
