Hey Arizona girls! Auditions for the AFL Arizona Rattlers dance team, the Sidewinders, are coming up in January. Get ready to impress the judges by attending the team’s first audition prep class on Thursday, October 27th. Current Sidewinders Dancers will be teaching a game routine, across-the-floor combos, a brief warm-up and basic conditioning. Sidewinders Dancers will be available to ask questions and provide audition tips. Don’t miss out!
~Sidewinders Prep Class #1~
Date: Thursday, October 27th
Location: US Airways Center, Suns’ Practice Court
Parking: Free Parking available in the attached parking garage. Use the south/east doors on Jefferson to enter the building.
Registration: Begins at 6:30pm (all participants must sign a waiver and under 18 must have a parent’s signature to participate)
Class Time: 7:00 – 9:00pm
Cost: $20 (cash only)
Attire: Comfortable workout/dance attire, non-marking shoes
Agenda
Registration 6:30-7:00
Warm-up 7:00-7:15
Across-the-floors 7:15-7:30
Learn routine 7:30-8:30
Conditioning/Abs 8:30-8:45
Audition Info (Q&A) 8:45- 9:00
Click here for additional information
The Portland Trailblazers website has been updated with new photos of this year’s squad. Click here to go there now.
Rachel, Veronica, and Kelly
Blue & Golden girls: Original Bomberettes will be back on the field to perform at halftime during Saturday’s game
Donna Fiala leads a rehearsal of Bomberettes who will relive their glory days from the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s in a performance at Saturday’s alumni game.
Winnipeg Free Press
10/21/2011
Barb Sloggett shows she hasn’t lost her touch when it comes to baton-twirling.
More than 100 women, including some who last raised a pompom in the 1950s and 1960s, will dance and cheer once again for their favourite team at this weekend’s alumni game.
The Blue Lightning, the Bombers’ current cheering squad, invited the original Bomberettes back to perform — and they answered by the dozens.
On Saturday, the current cheerleading squad for the Blue Bombers will clear the field for 129 of the former cheerleaders at halftime during the Bombers’ game against the Montreal Alouettes at Canad Inns Stadium.
“Yes, we are very pleased with the response!” Stacey Stone, head coach of the Blue Lightning Dance Team, said in an email.
“I’m so excited. I can’t even speak,” said Linda Reichert, who was a Bomberette in the 1970s. Reichert works in the Winnipeg Free Press marketing department.
The response underscores something special and innocent about the early squads.
Postwar boosterism of the 1950s created the Bomberettes in the first place. These women raised families of fans, children and grandchildren and set the course for generations of season-ticket holders. They made lifelong friends of fellow squad members, raised money for charity and even ice-skated with torches of real fire every March of Dimes, an Easter Seals fundraiser.
The Bomberettes appeared at many events in Winnipeg including the 1975 Schmockey Night, a variety show that raised money for charity
They performed with the RCMP musical ride.
Good memories explain part of the fervour, said several who recalled their time with the Bomberettes as some of the best days of their lives.
Bomberettes from the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s have been practising under their original coach, Donna Fiala.
At 80, Fiala still sports the lithe figure she had in the 1950s when she first led the Bomberettes as coach. Her daughters, who were child mascots with the squad — they are returning, too — smiled as one returning member observed Fiala hadn’t gained an ounce since her publicity stills shot 60 years ago. Their mother still wears the same dress, too, they said, laughing.
Fiala is the official record-keeper for the Bomberettes’ history; her collection of snapshots, publicity stills, programs and news clippings account for probably the most comprehensive souvenir collection of the Bomberettes of that era. It was her passion.
“I loved it,” Fiala said. “I loved the teaching. My mother and my sister made all the uniforms. My daughters were the mascots; it was a family thing,” Fiala said. “I was in the field for 28 years.”
“God, we’re good,” Linda Peter Boughton joked as Fiala led 23 of the former cheerleaders in a two-step while they simultaneously twirled batons at a recent practice.
Fiala instilled discipline, many recalled.
“We had a plan. No smoking. No drinking and we enjoyed the discipline of the Bomberettes. Donna was a very gentle person, but she had certain expectations,” Boughton recalled.
Bomberette members said Donna’s combination of good, clean fun and lots of discipline made a lifelong difference.
“It never leaves you. It changed my life, definitely.” Boughton said.
On the Blue Bombers’ field ready to perform.
NBAarena.com: Fox Sports Southwest and the Mavs have created a new Dallas Mavericks Dancer workout series titles: “Movin’ with the Mavs,” which will air on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 7:30am.
Schedule
show #1 on Tuesday, Oct. 18,
show #2 on Thursday Oct. 20
show #3 on Tuesday Oct. 25
show #4 on Thursday Oct. 27
show #5 on TTuesday Nov 1
show #6 on Thursday Nov. 3
show #7 on Tuesday Nov 8
show #8 on Thursday Nov 10
show #9 on Tuesday Nov 15
show #10 on Thursday Nov 17
There will be re-airs. Usually the half-hour prior to each show we’ll air the previous episode. So, on Thurs, Oct. 20, we’ll re-air show #1 from 7-7:30am.
This is an excerpt from a Popcrush article about Paula Abdul’s Dos and Don’ts for life.
“DO look for a way past “no”: My first audition to become a Laker Girl was a cattle call, and no one even saw me. I got cut immediately, but I sneaked into another room, changed my leotard, put on brighter tights and changed my hair. Then I went back in and used my middle name — and I got it!”
~ Paula Abdul
And – as they say – the rest is history.
That’s pretty clever. So, I guess the lesson here is the next time you audition for Lakers, bring a couple extra outfits in case you get cut in the first round!
I just heard from the Arizona Rattlers Sidewinders that they’ve been nominated for the best Arizona Cheerleaders/Dance Team. They’re up against some tough competition, so Click here and cast your vote!
[Click here to check out the Sidewinders on AZRattlers.com]
UK Daily Mail
10/20/2011
Did someone say American Football? No, we didn’t hear them either because we were too busy paying attention to Tampa Bay Buccaneers cheerleaders who today toured London ahead of some match or other at Wembley this weekend.
Of course, we know the Bucs are in town to play Chicago Bears but frankly it’s the half-time entertainment that is the most interesting.
The ladies have already been practising at another London venue, admittedly not quite as sparkling as Wembley, when they performed during the interval at Selhurst Park during Crystal Palace’s game with Bristol City.
The players, or ‘man mountains’ as they are affectionately known, have already enjoyed their whistle stop tour of the capital, embarking on a sightseeing tour to the likes of Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, Horse Guards Parade and 10 Downing Street.
In preparation for the big game, they have been training at the facility most recently used by the England rugby team before their ill-fated World Cup campaign in New Zealand.
Tampa will hope to enjoy more fortune than Martin Johnson’s men… and with these woman cheering them on, rather than a collection of dwarfs who don’t mind being tossed about a bar, one expects they will excel.
The Buccaneers are the first team to feature in the international series in London for a second time, having lost 35-7 to the New England Patriots in 2009.
The NFL showpiece is staged in a bid to raise the profile of American Football in this country, although the sport’s senior officials claim to already having 11 million followers across the pond.
The week 6 gallery features the Bucs, Jets, Redskins, Falcons, and Raiders. Click here to check it out!
Playstation.com
October 19, 2011
Everybody Dance, the ultimate party game for PlayStation 3, launches today! Now, with the power of PlayStation Move, you’ll be able to dance alongside authentic music videos for 40 of your favorite hit tracks.
To celebrate the game’s release, we’re happy to unveil the latest addition to our Dancer Diaries video series – Party Play with the San Francisco 49ers Gold Rush cheerleaders! A few weekends ago, we invited the squad over to PlayStation HQ for an Everybody Dance party. Check out the video for a glimpse of the 49ers Gold Rush showing off their best dance moves while playing Everybody Dance!
Spirits were high as the ladies played through several rounds of Everybody Dance’s Party Play mode, which allows up to 20 people to compete in head to head dance-offs. To get the party started, each dancer simply sets up their profile by taking a photo with the PlayStation®Eye camera and then the game automatically matches players up and tracks their wins. After each song, players can scroll through the results screens and review their scores and highlights from every round. Photos and highlight videos from the party can then be shared through Facebook and Twitter with a single click.
In addition to Party Play, Everybody Dance offers a great selection of fun features such as the Dance Creator mode that lets you to choreograph your own unique routines, the Dance Workout mode that helps you keep track of the calories that you burn while you work up a sweat on the dance floor, and Dance Class mode which helps you perfect your moves.
FOX 5 San Diego
October 18, 2011
[Click here to watch the video]
SAN DIEGO – When the Charger Girls perform on the field of San Diego’s Qualcomm Stadium, music blares over the sound system at ear-splitting levels, but one girl hardly hears it.
Severely hearing impaired since age 5, Melissa performs by sight as much as by sound.
“Before every group routine we do in the end zone I have one girl, depending on what routine it is, give me a tap on the side with her pom,” Melissa said. “On my own time, I will go over the music and make sure I know exactly what speed that song is and know the dance so well in my head that once I get that cue from the girl, I know it completely from start to finish. If the music were to turn off it wouldn’t matter for me because I would just keep going.”
Melissa, who’s in her second season as a Charger Girl, says she loved to dance from an early age while growing up on the east coast.
She moved to San Diego in 2005 and tried out for the Charger Girls and didn’t make it – the first five times she tried out.
“I realized this is something I really wanted to do and I knew that I could do it,” Melissa said.
“So then when I went in for my sixth try and made the team, I was ecstatic because this is something I’ve always wanted to do,” she said. “I didn’t want to give that dream up.”
Her teammate, Marissa, sees Melissa as an inspiration.
“I think Mel is incredible,” Marissa said. “I don’t know how she does what she does but I’m so grateful for her – she’s wonderful.”
“She’s definitely the glue that keeps our team together,” said Marissa. “She is able to allow us to work effectively as a team and to help us all communicate with one another. That is something she brings to our team.”
When she’s not performing, Melissa spends time creating. She started a web design company in 2005, called Media Forest 8, and has grown her business to more than 25 current clients.
Melissa said she has lost about 85 percent of her hearing and wears a hearing aid in her left ear. S She doesn’t know sign language or read lips. Instead, she listens intently and uses herself as an example of how anyone can overcome great odds.
“I really hope that other people can see my story and hear my story and it will inspire them to do the same,” Melissa said. “I know growing up, people would say, ‘Oh you’re not going to be able to do that.’ Or, ‘Oh she can’t hear. She can’t do that.’ I would just be like, ‘What are you talking about? Yes I can.'”
“I know that it’s hard if someone has a disability, it’s hard for them to see that sometimes, but it is possible and it’s something that they should try to do,” she said. “If there’s something you really want to do, you should do it. And you shouldn’t let anything get in your way.”
Clearly, Melissa follows her own advice.
