Click here for the Sun-Sentinel photo gallery from this year’s Miami Heat Dancers open call audition.

Auditions for the 2015-16 Miami Heat Dancers kicked off today. Click here to check out the Miami Herald’s collection of photos from the open call.

At least once a year I try to give a shout out to the Minnesota Vikings Cheerleaders Training Program. Every year the MVC extend invitations to around 20-30 dancers who didn’t make the team, but who show a lot of potential. Those ladies spend the next year prepping for the following year’s tryouts. They meet weekly, they dance, they learn technique, kicks, cheer, interview and media skills. They learn how to achieve their best look, how to perform with presence, and much more to bring that potential out. They also have opportunities to perform with the Vikings Cheerleaders during the season. A year is a HUGE commitment for both the MVC and the ladies involved, but the program has been going strong for almost 10 years. There’s nothing else like it in the NFL, and many an MVC has the Training Program to thank for eventually making the squad!

New team selected at final auditions Thursday night at Riverwind Casino
Oklahoma City Thunder
July 31, 2015

Oklahoma City, Friday, July 31, 2015 – The Oklahoma City Thunder selected its 2015-16 Thunder Girls dance team on Thursday night, the team announced. The final audition took place in front of a full house at the Showplace Theatre in Riverwind Casino.

The audition included both team veterans and newcomers. Of the women selected, seven are newcomers to the Thunder Girls.

“I am excited to enter a new season with this outstanding group,” said Paige Carter, dance team manager and choreographer for the Thunder. “Thunder Girls engage with our fans on and off the court, and sometimes even across the globe. These ladies will add excitement and energy to the Thunder experience at Chesapeake Energy Arena, as well as being excellent community ambassadors.”

A panel of judges – including Roy Williams, former NFL player and an All-American safety with the University of Oklahoma; former Miss Oklahoma Kelli Masters; Caroline Bennett, the 2015 Miss Black Oklahoma U.S. Ambassador; and Command Sgt. Maj. Tony F. Riggs of the Oklahoma Army National Guard – assisted Thunder staff in making the final selections.

The final audition process consisted of three rounds: a choreographed jazz/hip-hop routine, a question-and-answer session and a solo dance.

Following last Saturday’s open audition, 34 women were selected as finalists for Thursday’s. During the week, finalists took part in formal interviews and rehearsals to prepare for the finals.

Portland Tribune
July 30, 2015

Although just a rookie on the dance team, the Lake Oswego native had already achieved great camaraderie with the other dancers. Bronwyn Gibson had thought she was through with dancing.

But now the 23-year-old Lake Oswego woman will be dancing more than ever as a rookie with the Sea Gals, the dance team for the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks. Gibson is already traveling far and wide. The Sea Gals’ schedule is already packed with events, such as the recent parade in Boise, Idaho. Of course, the Sea Gals slew the crowd.

“There are so many events lined up,” Gibson said. “There are paid appearances every single day. I could dance every day if I wanted.”

Gibson is pumped. But not long ago the Lake Oswego High School graduate thought she was done with dancing. At age 19 she had already been dancing in competitions and on school dance squads for 16 years, and Gibson thought it was time to give her feet a permanent rest.

“I had done all kinds of dance,” she said. “I took a four year hiatus, with no dancing in between. I thought it would be easy to give up dancing. It wasn’t.”

Soon after graduating from the University of Oregon, Gibson was working as a freelance writer, and she came to a crossroads in her young life: whether to try her luck on the East Coast or else stay on the West Coast and be near her family in Lake Oswego. She chose to remain close to home and start dancing again.

However, Gibson chose to make her dancing comeback in one of the most competitive venues, dancing on a dance line for an NFL team. And the Seattle Seahawks have one of the highest profiles in the league. With the exception of one bad pass in the last Super Bowl, the Seahawks are probably the best team in the NFL, and with winning comes glamour. They also have the loudest, most rabid fans in the league. Making a pro sports dance team is almost as tough as making the players team, yet Gibson gave it a shot. There were 200 applicants when the Seahawks held tryouts in the spring.

But four years off made no difference. Gibson had what the Sea Gals were looking for. She had all the right moves, and the looks, too.

“Everyone there was pretty and a good dancer,” she said. “The key to the auditions was that they were looking for the whole package. They wanted a good dancer, a good role model, a good speaker. They wanted someone with a good vibe. I wanted to impress them in every category.”

This summer Gibson is concentrating on becoming a good teammate for the 30-member team, and things are working out quite well.

“There are no issues with us, even though we all have different ages, dynamics and interests,” she said. “We have such a common passion. We all get along great. This is the best team I’ve ever been on for getting along.”

The good times are rolling for Gibson, and the best part hasn’t even started yet. That will come on Aug. 14 when the Hawks host their first exhibition game of the 2015 season against the Denver Broncos. Gibson is already thinking big.

“The Super Bowl is already on my calendar,” she said. “That’s my goal.”

The team was announced last week, and these are the ladies who survived the gauntlet and made the cut. Congrats!

I know many of you watch the reality show on CMT, so I’ve posted a tiny photo so as not to spoil it too badly for those who want to stay in suspense. Click the image below to see it full size.

Last spring all 30 Tampa Bay Buccaneers Cheerleaders traveled to Anna Maria Island off Florida to shoot their 16-month swimsuit calendar. Now the result of all that hard work has come to fruition. Click here to check out photos from the team’s calendar reveal, and click here to watch the video. Also click here for scenes from the photo shoot.

This year’s Clippers Spirit auditions kicked off on Sunday morning at the Clippers training facility in Playa Vista, CA. Over 200 ladies queued up for
the opportunity to represent the Clippers organization and entertain fans at home games this fall.

The entire thing was filmed by a tv crew, so the place was crawling with black-clad crew members with cameras, microphones, clipboards, and other mysterious looking equipment

The dancers, who’d started arriving before 8 am, had plenty of time to warm up and get ready for the day.

The day kicked off at 9:30 am with a pep talk, where dancers were encouraged to do their best, put it all out on the floor, and try to have some fun with the process.

They also introduced the judges and the numerous helper elves (interns) there to make the process go smoothly.

Clippers Spirit alumni Brianna, Justene, Anasheh, Brittany, Bianca, and Michelle were on hand to assist the choreographers.

The Clippers organization shook up the audition process this year. In addition to the change in venue (Air conditioning! Praise the Lord!), there were different choreographers, and a different format than usual.

Unlike past years, where the audition began with a technical across-the-floor combination, this year, the first round one didn’t involve any choreography at all. Instead, for this “First Impressions Round,” the dancers were called into the room in groups of 25.

Then they took the floor in groups of four or five to introduce themselves to the judges, and then freestyle and show off their best moves.

We saw lots of tricks, lots of technique, a little bit of tumbling, and more than one dancer twerked it out for the judges.

As each group of 25 finished up, they were steered outside to hear their fate: in or out.

Those who made the cut headed back inside to wait for the next round. That first round took almost three hours. After a break for lunch, the veterans from last year’s team made their entrance. Fourteen of them, dressed all in black, matching down to shoes and accessories.

I know and like all of these ladies, but heck, even I was intimidated when they walked in.

14 veterans. 18 spots on the team. That’s scary odds for both the veterans AND the aspiring rookies. After the lunch break, everyone gathered around to hear the plan for the rest of the afternoon: first a jazz/technical combination, then another cut, then a hip hop combination, followed by a third cut.

Sophia Aguiar choreographed the first combination. Sophia’s resume includes performances with JLo, Nicki Minaj, Justin Timberlake, and heck if I know what all else. She’s a member of the cast for Britney’s Spears’ Vegas show. Just so you know. This is no slouch off the street. Sophia chorographed a really fun dance to Pharrell’s “Freedom.”

This went fast. 30 minutes later, she’d taught the combination, the dancers had run through it a few times, and then it was time to line up for round two.

Show us watcha got, ladies!

By 3pm, round 2 was over.

Clippers Spirit, past and present, waiting for the judges to finish deliberating.

90 minutes later, the second cut was announced, narrowing the field down to 60 danceers

There was no time to hug your girlfriends goodbye. Everybody get up and put your pants on, it’s time for hip hop. The choreographer for this round was Bryan Tanaka.

Because why wouldn’t Beyonce’s dance captain be choreographing for the Clippers Spirit audition? Honestly, sometimes I actually forget this is Los Angeles. And then something like this happens.

Bryan’s combination was to Dawin’s “Dessert”. (The song will confuse you at first. But the jam hits you about 45 seconds in. “Watcha gon, watcha gon do with that dessert? Murder dat, murder dat, murder dat dance floor.)

This time there were less than 30 minutes to learn the dance. This is where they separate the boys from the men. So to speak.

On to round 3 judging:

And then it was over. Nothing left to do but wait for the judges.

Spirit vets with Bryan and Sophia When the judges returned, they cut the group down to 41 dancers (including all 14 veterans – woot!), who will duke it out at finals tomorrow night. It’s going to be insanely competitive. To say the least. Stay tuned!

Sports Illustrated has photos of the 2014-15 Power Dancers in action. Click here to check it out!

By Rowena Ryan
News.com.au
May 29, 2015

Forget everything you’ve seen in the movies.

Cheerleaders are not all blonde, they don’t all date football players and they don’t just shake pompoms.

Australian cheerleader, Angie Minucos, 24, knows this all too well.

She has just made it big time by being accepted as a cheerleader for the highly competitive San Diego Chargers National Football League (NFL) team in the United States, the home of cheerleading.

While cheerleading is still relatively small in Australia, think the Paramatta Eels, the WestsTigers and the Sydney Sixers, in the United States there are around 3.6 million cheerleaders competing fiercely every year for the chance to make the team.

Landing a place in one of the 32 NFL teams is incredibly hard and those who do make it have to re-audition every year. The week long audition sees hundreds of girls competing, learning difficult routines in front of a panel of judges. It’s extremely gruelling, taxing on the body and nerve-racking but Angie made the cut!

The pinnacle for any cheerleader is the American NFL.

“It’s a whole other level in North America. There’s much more of a purpose, the entertainment value cheerleaders provide in the game itself is huge — NFL is a long paced game of up to four hours unlike rugby at home that is much quicker.”

But it is also a misunderstood sport. It’s not just about on-field performances, cheerleaders in America are involved in community projects, charity events, public speaking and media appearances.

“I think there’s misconceptions everywhere,” says Angie, “It’s a performing art. It doesn’t differentiate from any other dance, at the end of the day it’s more than dancing though — we are ambassadors, we have a platform and we have a voice,” she says.

A typical training week for a Charger Girl involves two evening sessions of four hours from 6pm — 10pm as well as Saturday from 8am — 5pm and it’s big business.

Cheerleaders are paid a salary, they have personal trainers, a team nutritionist and are expected to take part in media interviews, photo shoots and events.

It’s also one of the most dangerous sports in terms of injuries. A study reported in the Wall Street Journal found that cheerleading is the number one cause of catastrophic injuries among girls and young women in the USA.

A 2012 study from The American Academy of Paediatrics found that cheerleading accounted for 65 per cent of catastrophic injuries to girl athletes at high school and 70.8 per cent at college level between 1982 and 2009.

While the number of catastrophic injuries are small, there were 110 closed head injuries, skull fractures and cervical spine injuries over that time, it’s the disproportionate number of severe injuries in this one activity that was found to be most concerning.

Angie recently almost had an injury end her career. Four months prior to the audition she sustained a labral tear in her hip, a common dancer injury.

“Typical this means surgery resulting in at least six months off but I was determined to make that audition,” she says.

“I searched and searched until I found a wonderful physio who was confident we could strengthen my hip again by the time of the audition.

“I spent three hours a day on rehabilitation of my hip for the three months leading up to the audition and currently spend a few hours a week maintaining it.

“Considering I could barely walk without pain let alone dance, I had a really fortunate recovery,” says Angie.

Born in Sydney’s western suburbs before moving to Five Dock during high school, Angie is one of six kids and grew up dancing. She started ballet at just two years old, but it was a chance opportunity to join a recreation cheerleading program at school at age 15 that forged her career.

“I fell in love with it straightaway,” says Angie. “I had never participated in a team sport before and I never thought it could have taken me around the world.”

For now Angie is enjoying life in San Diego and the thought of performing in front of a stand of 80,000 fans when the season begins in September.

“I’m a big believer in following opportunities wherever they may go, in taking a leap of faith. This is my dream and I’ll see where that takes me,” she says.