FOXSportsWest.com
July 10, 2011

Check out FOXSportsWest.com’s gallery of the Los Angeles Clipper cheerleaders tryouts held July 9.

Now that the NBA has decided to join the NFL in the “Leagues in Lockout” club, someone has to keep the spirit alive.

For the Los Angeles Clippers, that responsibility falls on the shoulders of a group of young, enthusiastic dancers appropriately called the Clippers Spirit.

You’ve probably seen the group of 16 young ladies on T.V. or in person at games before and thought “oh what pretty girls” – or at least that what’s your wife thought – but smiling isn’t their only skill listed on their resume. And what it takes to earn a job starts years, decades even, before the day of preliminary auditions.

Lydia Mercado is a 20-year-old nursing student at Cal State Fullerton who’s been dancing for 15 years. After enjoying her time on Fullerton’s team she decided to try the professional level and continue with the art that has taken up over half her life. That desire led her to where she was on Saturday: standing in the front row of about 200 young women- ranging from 18 to mid-20s-with a piece of paper with a No. 2 safety pinned to her athletic briefs hoping to become the newest member of the Clippers Spirit. Those 200 are only the new hopeful ones who have never held a position on the team. The incumbents get the opportunity to skip the first cut and join on the second of three phases of the dance portion of the audition. All finalists must be interviewed before chosen regardless of previous standing.

A good sign for Mercado is that her story compares to that of Jessie Carter, a Clippers Spirit member who volunteered to help with the first portion of the audition. Her mother was an NFL cheerleader and Carter grew up dancing, spending her days and weekends going to school then heading to class. She couldn’t bare thought of leaving that world behind when she went to college.

At 18 she danced for the San Diego Chargers and now after coming to Los Angeles to attend USC, she’s spent the past two seasons working for the Clippers.

[Correction: She was with the Clippers for 2 years and was a Charger Girl last year ~ sasha]

“You get immediate best friends,” Carter says of the experience.

Sure, she could dance other places. But she can’t find the same sisterhood. Carter, who just turned 21, so far has always fulfilled the role as “the baby” of the teams she’s been on (the age range sometimes can go as high as 35 on some professional teams) has relied on that greatly since leaving home.

It keeps Carter coming back for more. And she’s not the only one.

Brittany has been with the Spirit for four years and auditioned for her fifth season on Saturday. Part of their job involves being brand and community goodwill ambassadors right in Los Angeles and around the world. Literally. The Spirit just returned from a two-week NBA event in China where they put on several performances and represented the Clippers organization on an international level.

For some, being on a highly publicized dance team in the entertainment capitol of the world is a whole new and rather daunting world. For others, like Anasheh Abramiyan, it’s old hat. Abramiyan went to school down the street at where she donned a white sweater and extra-large pom-poms as a USC Song Girl.

“You have to be in shape. You have to work hard. You have to stay fit and be healthy and give it your all no matter what.”

Whether they are balancing these responsibilities with school or a job, these young professional have to hold themselves to some of the same standards as the athletes they represent. This standard is raised the second a league goes into a lockout.

Spirit Director Audrea Harris made it clear to the potential new members that they were looking for only girls who were highly motivated because as long as the lockout persisted and the players were unable to be associated with the organization, the Spirit would be the sole representation. The Spirit only rehearses twice a week, but it is up to the members to keep in shape without the dancing for hours at games in addition to being ready to make all those extra community appearances.

There is little room for margin of error. Several judges, including Fox Sports’ own John Jackson, are on hand to make sure the young women picked have the right balance of dance technique, showmanship, personality and work ethic to be able to handle the job if they are chosen.

NBA fans across the nation probably feel almost responsible to keep hope alive as they wait for the return of their favorite league. But they can rest assured that those helping them along are highly qualified.

By Eric Stephens
The Orange County Register
July 9, 2011

[Video and Photos]

ANAHEIM – The number of those trying out wasn’t quite as large as last summer’s record number but the energy and hope was just as plentiful among the dozens of young women that sought to become the next Power Player for the Ducks.

In all, there were 62 who started Saturday morning at Anaheim Ice dreaming to find their way onto the final 14-member squad.
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Erica Averkieff, 23, is the mother of 10-month old son, Ericson, with her boyfriend and stroller in tow. The nights of cheerleading at Rancho Alamitos High on Friday nights propelled her to chase after a spot where she’d be cleaning up the Honda Center ice surface in front of thousands.

“Everyone can have the same talent but really, I think it’s your personality,” Averkieff said. “You’ve got to stand out. You’ve got to have spunk. You’ve got to make people notice you.

“Everyone can skate. But you’ve got to have personality. You’ve got to have something that people will remember you by.”

The Power Players not only maintain the ice surface during timeouts at Ducks’ home games but they entertain and interact with the fans in attendance while also making appearances in the community on behalf of the team. They’ll also appear in a swimsuit calendar that is sold in the team store and are featured prominently on the team’s website.

It doesn’t pay much – say $13 an hour – but it can also be an avenue to bigger and better things. Just ask Paula Abdul, the one-time famed Laker Girl.

The Milwaukee Bucks Energee! dance team recently returned from a trip to Madrid as part of the NBA 5 United Tour. They capped a five day whirlwind of appearances, dancing, autograph signing, and sight-seeing by performing at the Estadio Santiago Bernabéu. It’s home to Real Madrid, and one of the most famous football (soccer) venues in the world.

Click here to see a few photos from their trip!

It started with these three photos. The first time I saw these three photos, I thought to myself “I must find a way to use these.”

Actually, it started way before that. It started back in March, when I was sitting around with ChivaGirls Director Aimee E, chatting about this year’s team photo shoot. Every year Aimee looks for ways to make the ChivaGirls better and better, and she has loads of creative ideas. This year, she wanted introduce some new freshness in the team photo shoot. In addition to shooting the girls in their dress uniforms, she also wanted them photographed in a variety of other outfits, so there would be a variation and interest for the fans. She was leaning toward some kind of hip hop look.

Not that she needed my approval, or even my opinion on the matter, but I was totally on board with her plan. I have probably seen more pro cheerleader/dance team websites than anyone else on the planet, and I can speak with some authority when I say one way to really enhance a site – and therefore the team’s brand/online presence – is to add photos. Good ones. And lots of them. And lots of variety.

A few weeks later, the subject came up again, and Aimee told me she’d had a terrific idea for what the girls could wear for the shoot.

The first thing she said was “tube tops.”

I’ll admit, my excitement dimmed a little. I have a particular issue about tube tops. They make me nervous. When I was a kid, my big sister and I used to visit our southern relatives every summer. One summer, when I was 9 or 10, we were out playing in the street and one of the older neighborhood girls came out of her house in a striped sequin tube top. Someone else had brought a boom box, so we had some tunes going. Tube top girl hopped up to demonstrate a new dance move, and her tube top did what tube tops do. Before I could blink, it was down around her waist. There must not have been any elastic in it whatsoever. All the kids laughed at her (Except for some of the older boys, who were too busy getting an eyeful to produce coherent sounds.) The poor girl yanked up that tube top and ran like her britches were on fire. I was horrified for her. If that had been me, I would’ve just died on the spot.

Ever since then, I have been deeply suspicious of tube tops. I do not trust them. A tube top has no loyalty. It goes where it likes, when it likes, with no regard whatsoever for the feelings of the person wearing it.

When Aimee brought up the tube tops, I kept my mouth shut, and immediately started thinking about contingencies. We’d need doublestick tape. Safety pins. Maybe some of that special butt glue pageant girls use to prevent swimsuit wedgies.

But then Aimee showed me what she had in mind. She reached into her bag and pulled out a red sequin tube top. A silver tube top. A blue tube top. And they were sparkly. I loooooove sparkly. And I knew they’d look dy-no-mite in pictures. Aimee reached back into her bag and pulled out a pair of white capris. Then she pulled out the white shoes, and the red shoes, and the other white shoes. And some striped socks.

Sometimes you just know an idea is really going to work out well.

Aimee said she wanted to take it to another level, and this was for sure going to do it.

(Meanwhile, she got all the stuff in downtown LA for like NO money. You can get amazing bargains downtown. More on that later.)

Photo shoot day was a marathon that went on for more than 16 hours. The girls started arriving around 9:30 am. The photographer, hair, and makeup people arrived and hour or so later and set up all of their gear. Aimee was everywhere at once, making sure the everyone was on the same page and understood what needed to be done. This year she’d asked former ChivaGirls Ariel and Monique to help out, and thank goodness for that. There were 24 ChivaGirls to shoot in one day, each girl in three different outfits, so there were a lot of people and a lot of activity. It could’ve gone chaotic. Soon after we started, the team settled into a rhythm. Aimee was sitting with the photographer, making sure she go the shots she needed. Ariel and Monique styled the girls in their hip hop outfits and brought them to Aimee for approval and adjustments.

Incidentally, Ariel is now a San Diego Charger Girl and Monique just made the finals for the Boston Celtics Dancers. (Former ChivaGirl Tiffany is also in the finals for Celtics. Good luck on 7/14, girls!) Now, if the Powers That Be would please remove their heads from their own rear ends and settle their respective lockouts, maybe we’ll get to see both of these girls perform somewhere this fall.

Aimee’s vision wasn’t limited to the outfits though. She also had a vision of how she wanted these hip hop photos to look. When it comes to the dress uniforms, the idea was for the girls to do “pretty and approachable.” For hip hop, the idea was to be a lot more playful and sassy. She wanted these to be fun photos. She wanted to showcase the ChivaGirls’ personalities.

And that’s exactly what she got.

(These are some crappy screen caps, but you get the idea)

Somewhere along the way, I’d mentioned to Aimee that I was interested in making some ChivaGirls art/wallpapers for the Chivas USA site. I’m self taught on photo shop, so I’m always looking for projects to help me learn more. When Aimee received the photo disks from the photo shoot, she made copies for me. Just made copies and handed them to me. Just like that. She didn’t tell me which photos to use, didn’t tell me to make sure everyone looked good, didn’t tell me to be careful with the disks. She just assumed I would be respectful of the team and that I would make something great. I was pretty much floored. In my world, this is a huge honor. She was basically handing me the team’s image. I could’ve drawn mustaches and devil horns on all the photos (or worse!) and posted them all over the internet. Not that I would, but the fact that she just handed everything over to me like that made me a little sniffly. (I love you, man!)

(Not that I’m untrustworthy, you understand. I’m not an ex-con or anything. I’m no Casey Anthony. I believe myself to be a reliable type of person. But I am also cynic, so it always surprises me when I run into someone who has a brighter, more optimistic, more trusting view of mankind than I do. I’m all “WOW…really??? You’re just gonna hand me these disks like its no big deal…REALLY? What if I break them? What if I lose them? What if I get jacked on the way home? What if someone offers me a whoooole lotta money for them? What if monkeys fly out of my…” Ahem. I think you get my point.)

Aimee gave me the disks while we were in the dressing room before a game. They were practically burning a hole in my pocket. I bolted out of there right after halftime. I could not wait to see how the photos had turned out.

When I got to my computer, I scrolled through hundreds and hundreds of photos, and so many of them were fantastic. I had a moment of “oh, dear, what am I going to do with all of these?” I had tons of ideas for different effects and layouts, but no clue as to whether I could pull any of them off. I didn’t want these wallpapers to look cheesy and low-budget. This was the first thing I’d ever created for a website other than this one, and I was nervous. I wanted it to be really good. Aimee had given me this chance and I didn’t want to let her down.

It was a major challenge to pick just one photo of each girl. There were so many that I really really liked. I struggled with it for a few days, until one morning, I woke up with a fully formed idea in my head. I was going to use two photos of each ChivaGirl, and I was going to keep it simple. I trashed all the swirls and twirls and fancy backgrounds, fonts, textures and effects. I didn’t need all of that. The photos spoke for themselves. I quickly put together a few examples and sent them over to Aimee, hoping she’d love the idea as much as I did.

If she didn’t love it, I was prepared to do some major pouting.

Thankfully, she loved them too!

The end result, I think, speaks for itself. Here are a few examples. (I shrunk ’em down.) You can see all of the wallpapers in full size on the Chivas USA website. [Click Here].

They’re eventually going to put all of the wallpapers on a separate page, along with another set of wallpapers I made of the girls in their dress uniforms. But for now, you have to click each ChivaGirl to see her wallpaper. I’m also working on a banner/poster type thing using other photos from this shoot. I’m not sure exactly what it will be used for, but I’ll share when it’s done.

Anyway, I love these wallpapers, and I’m not ashamed to brag on them.

• I didn’t pick the models – Aimee and the judges did that at auditions
• I didn’t choose the concept for the shoot – that was Aimee
• I didn’t pick the outfits – that was Aimee too
• I didn’t style them – that was Aimee, Ariel, and Monique
• I didn’t pick the poses – Aimee and the girls did that
• I didn’t shoot the photos – that was photographer Mike Nowak

I didn’t do any of the heavy lifting. But I did slap it all down on these wallpapers, and by golly I’m proud of them. I figure I can claim a good 12.5% of the credit for the way they turned out. I’m not usually one to toot my own horn, but in this case I’m doing it quietly to myself. (Toot! toot! …shhhhh…)

Sidebar: Aimee loved these outfits so much, she made a return trip to downtown LA to buy enough capris and red tube tops for the whole team. Hurray! Tube tops for everyone!

The girls wore them during a game in April. (We spent a good amount of time attaching clear straps and safety pinning the crap out of those tube tops so they wouldn’t fall down.) The tops held up like a champ all through the halftime performance. They looked brilliant under the stadium lights, and the fans LOVED them. Sparkles. They’ll get you every time.)

If you’ve visited the ROAR of the Jacksonville Jaguars on Facebook lately, you may have noticed their new uniforms for the upcoming season. Ditch the belt, snip the sleeves, add some sparkle, and voilà! What do you think?

New uniform

Last year’s uniform

The Girls of Paradise … Ann and Sunni
By Mickey Spagnola
Dallas Cowboys Star Magazine
(by way of DallasCowboysCheerleaders.com)
June 30, 2011

This is the tale of two members of the DCC who grew up about 14 miles from each other. Ann Lux, a first-year veteran, is from Texarkana, Texas. Sunni Cranfill, a two-year vet, is from Hooks, Texas, which you may know better as the home of Billy Sims.

They’ve known each other for like 17 years, but not because they went to school together or anything like that. See, back when Sunni was 13 or 14, she says, she was an assistant dance instructor at a local studio. And one day, there was Ann, all of “four years old in this pink tutu,” Ann says.

That was the start for Ms. Sunni and Ann Catherine.

“One of those weird, random connections,” says Sunni, “so for us to be dancing together now makes it kind of a surreal experience.”

Seriously, and not only Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders teammates this past season for the first time, but actually roommates during the 10-day calendar shoot in Mexico. How life turns.

Yes, you can do the math, and this part makes their reuniting even more improbable. Sunni, a former Miss Texas in the Miss America Pageant, is now 31 years old. Ann, a Miss Teen Texas pageant competitor, is 21. Both are highly persistent, their commonality since their ages aren’t.

Sunni actually didn’t make the DCC the first time she tried out. She was selected the second time for training camp, but again didn’t make the final squad. Undaunted, she tried out again for the 2009 team, and at the tryouts, there was the once little Ann Catherine.

“We always kept in touch,” Sunni says, even after she went off to college.

Well, Sunni makes the squad on her third attempt. Ann did not on her first, and come the 2010 tryout, there was Ms. Sunni lending more advice to her former student.

“I think we’re both a firm believer that everything happens for a reason,” Ann says, “and Sunni being a Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader for a year, once again she was there for advice and it was a comforting feeling to know I had somebody I could trust … it was nice to have Sunni there. She could always comfort me in training camp if it was a rough night or I was having some problems. She was always there for me.

“As usual.”

On the Sidelines
International Appeal
Kristi Scales
DallasCowboys.com
July 6, 2011

How much appeal do the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders have internationally? A quick review of the birthplaces for several of the nearly 300 young women who auditioned last month proves that the dream of growing up to become one of America’s Sweethearts extends well beyond the 48 contiguous United States.

If this were a high school reunion, the winner of the “longest distance traveled” award would go to the contestant from Australia.* It was easy to spot her: she was being trailed by an Australian television crew. The 26-year-old from Sydney has cheered for an Aussie professional rugby team the past eight years. She was a good dancer and made it all the way to the finals. Did she make the cut and get invited to DCC summer boot camp? Yes, she did. Congrats!

In terms of distance, the Australian barely beats out the 25-year-old originally from Vietnam. According to Google, DFW to Sydney is 8,619 air miles; DFW to Hanoi is 8,441. As far as I know, this is the first Vietnamese contestant we’ve had. Of course, the Cowboys already boast the NFL’s first Vietnamese-American player, linebacker Dat Nguyen.

Asia was particularly well represented this year. In addition to Vietnam, we had a 19-year-old student and part-time waitress originally from South Korea (over 6,800 miles from Dallas). And I’m not sure the 27-year-old from Japan spoke a lot of English, but she had some hip-hop moves (6,473 air miles from Tokyo to DFW).

We had a girl who was born in Italy but lives in Oklahoma (can you find good gnocchi in Soonerland?), and also had a girl born in Acapulco, Mexico who now lives in Las Vegas.

And if I tell you we had a girl from Georgia that moved to New York, no big deal. But it’s not that Georgia. It’s the Republic of Georgia (former Soviet Union), which is more than 6,700 miles from Dallas. She also earned an invite to camp.

Let’s give honorable mention to the girl from Oahu. Technically, Hawaii’s not international, but 3,800 air miles from Honolulu to DFW is a long flight. Plus, she’s a 22-year-old nurses’ aide at an Army medical center, so kudos to her.

By my unofficial count (I’m jotting down notes as the girls introduce themselves to judges, not looking at official entries), we had contestants from 32 states. From the insurance agent in Miami to the two girls from Seattle, contestants literally came to Dallas from across the country.

Let’s see … the hairdresser from New Jersey, the girl from a cherry farm in Michigan, the surf instructor from Utah (indoor simulator because there’s no coast in Utah), the female boxer from Iowa, Miss Teen Texas from Lufkin.

Seeing the 32-year-old single mother of a nine-year-old child audition was inspiring; she beat ovarian cancer two years ago.

In fact, we had several mothers audition this year, including a lady with five kids, ages 1 to 17. That’s right, five kids. The fact her stomach is flatter than mine is depressing – gotta start my diet as soon as I finish this box of Milk Duds.

The registered nurse, the geography professor, the math teacher, the girl from the town of 21 people in Iowa, the Britney Spears impersonator (no kidding), the stay-at-home mom of the two-year-old and six-month-old, the girl who owns her own cake decorating company, the girl who works at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, the nursing home receptionist …

Which of these contestants will you see in next year’s Swimsuit Edition? Can’t tell you. Not because we can’t spill the beans before CMT’s DCC: Making the Team reality show airs. I can’t tell because, even if they survived the final cut, they still have three months of DCC boot camp ahead of them.

Auditions are just the first step. The hardest work begins this month.

---

* Click here for more on Angela Nicotera, the training camp candidate from Australia.

Neil Tarpey
The Times-Standard
07/04/2011

She’s gone from youth football to the National Football League.

Ali Gaube, a graduate of Winship Junior High and Eureka High School, has earned a spot on the San Francisco 49ers Gold Rush, the professional cheerleaders squad.

How did Gaube feel when she learned she had been selected?

”I can’t even describe it. I had so many things going through my mind. I feel very, very lucky,” said Gaube.

Quite a positive accomplishment for a persistent, hard-working 23-year-old college student who once had no friends.

”I moved to Eureka from Washington in the fifth grade and had no friends,” said Gaube. “A lot of the girls were doing cheerleading for Six Rivers Youth Football. I tried it, and I loved it.”

She fondly recalled the fun of traveling with the cheerleading team on their July or August bus trips to cheerleaders’ camps in Davis.

”It was a good way to bond with the team, singing on the bus, and then learning and practicing new routines,” said Gaube.

Gaube credits her Humboldt County cheerleader coaches — Star Blackburn, Teri Leavitt, Brenda Bronson and Teresa Creech, her head coach — for their encouragement during her years as a cheerleader for youth football, middle school, Eureka High School and competitive squads.

She moved away to attend Sacramento State, where she is working on her degree in special education so that she can teach and work with young children.

While she was in Sacramento, Gaube tried out for the cheerleaders team for the Sacramento Cobras, a semi-professional football team. Not only did Gaube earn a spot on the 42-member team, but the other women voted her as their captain.

Then it was on to the Lady Lions, the cheerleading squad for the Sacramento Mountain Lions of the United Football League.

While Gaube was a member of the Lady Lions, she had opportunities to volunteer in the community.

For example, she joined four other cheerleaders and several football players and went to the Shriner’s Hospital in Sacramento, where they met with about 30 children on the burn victims unit.

”It was such an emotional experience,” said Gaube. “I feel very blessed.”

Setting her sights on the Gold Rush, Gaube tried out.

She didn’t make it. Two years in a row.

But rather than give up, she listened to the judges’ feedback.

”They told me, ‘Keep going, keep going, we know you can do this at the professional level,’” said Gaube.

She began working harder, not only improving her endurance but also her public speaking skills.

This year she joined the group of 400 women trying out for the 32 spots on the Gold Rush. Even the members of last year’s squad have to try out for this year’s team.

The large group was divided up, and the candidates had to quickly learn a new choreographed dance routine — to Usher’s song “More” — and then, in the preliminary auditions phase, perform that routine with confidence in front of a panel of judges.

At the end of the first day’s preliminary auditions, the group was cut down to 75.

The remaining candidates faced the challenge of arranging time off from school or work in order to participate in a full week of tryouts from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily. Among the activities were not just learning and performing, in order to demonstrate their dancing abilities and showmanship, but also interviews — to see how each person received feedback — and a final audition.

What was Gaube’s biggest challenge during the week of tryouts?

”I’d say it was exuding confidence,” said Gaube. “Instead of thinking, ‘She’s a better dancer than me,’ I kept telling myself, ‘If they want me, I just have to be myself.’”

Gaube’s hard work and belief in herself paid off. The day after final auditions, she went to the team’s website (www.49ers.com/gold-rush) and saw her photo included with the other 31 team members.

After two years of trying out but not making the Gold Rush, the third time was a charm.

”That’s exactly what I was hoping for,” said Gaube.

The Gold Rush practice one day a week, six hours each session, in order to accommodate the reality that so many of its members commute and attend school or have jobs.

Gaube intends to enjoy her time with the Gold Rush, especially because, “There’s no guarantee that I’ll make it back next year.”

This summer, besides working out with the team and its coaches, Gaube is taking online college courses.

Earning a spot on a NFL cheerleading team, and pursuing her degree from Sac State, has taught Gaube an important lesson.

”If you dream big and keep on striving for what you want, and keep on going, you can get what you want,” said Gaube.

Mike Trudell, Lakers Reporter
Lakers.com
July 7, 2011

On July 16, auditions for the 2011-12 Laker Girls will take place at the Toyota Sports Center, starting at 9 a.m. sharp.

In the meantime, the 2010-11 Laker Girls have continued to make appearances all around Los Angeles and surrounding areas. To discuss those subjects and more, Laker Girls Director Lisa Estrada (technically the organization’s Director, Game Operations and Entertainment) joined us for a chat:

Q: On how much hoops the Laker Girls need to know:
Estrada: We don’t have them take a test, but I want them to do their research on the team and know the general information. Who the coach is, who our star player is, how many world championships we have, and things that one could have a conversation with someone about.

Q: On her ladies being quite busy of late:
Estrada: We’ve been very busy this summer, especially on weekends. I’ve had to turn down some appearances, in fact. This includes charitable functions and paid appearances, but it can be tough to staff these events in the summer as some girls are going on vacation, some are in summer school, some have graduated. It poses a slight problem, but it’s awesome that we’re still working and that the girls are still getting out into the community.

Q: On the types of appearances being made:
Estrada: A lot of trade shows, grand openings from some of our sponsors like Verizon, or Subway, Arco, AM/PM, Chevron and such. We do a lot of private events as well, like bar mitzvahs, several runs and walks for charity, as well as visitations to elderly homes, so the girls have been very busy.

Q: On the Laker Girls page on Lakers.com listing Estrada’s phone number, which people can call if they – for example – would like to request to have the Laker Girls at their son’s bar mitzvah:
Estrada: Yes, in fact, a season seat holder with whom I’ve been in contact since March, was hoping to have some Laker Girls for his son’s bar mitzvah, and we were able to fulfill the request just recently. He e-mailed to say that he was very pleased with how the girls represented the Lakers, and how well things went, so we were happy to hear that. The girls love doing those types of events.

Q: On the types of events that the Laker Girls won’t do:
Estrada: There are certain events we won’t do, like an engagement or bachelor party or things like that. But we’ll do 80th birthday parties at a restaurant, or things along those lines.

Q: On measuring the success of the Laker Girls from season to season:
Estrada: I don’t compare because it’s too hard with different personalities, especially because we have some returnees and some brand new girls each year. I can think of a handful in my mind that I remember because they were such good eggs or employees, but every year really is different. No. 1, the (basketball) team is different each year, so expectations are different. But I learn something about directing and about people every year, so that’s my own growing in this position and things I have to learn or tackle.

Q: On how the Laker Girls can be different from year-to-year for better or worse:
Estrada: When you have auditions with just two or three days to choose someone, they may do a certain style really well, but say I bring in a choreographer that is a little more funky, maybe 12 girls out of 22 can’t do that style at all, and it takes that much more work to improve. I hope that doesn’t happen, but there are years that it’s trying technically, years where it is trying with personalities, years where it’s trying with responsibility and commitment, which sometimes they take with a grain of salt and sometimes they do not.

Q: On the explanation behind going from 22 dancers to 18 for this previous season:
Estrada: This year we started with 22 members but ended up with 18, reflecting different reasons. I’m not opposed to let people go, or downsize if we need to, in order to get a team that’s fully committed and that will gel together. We did that this year, and I’m happy with the outcome. The thing that was trying this year was certain employee’s work ethic and (lack of) commitment, which bummed me out as a director. I think when anyone takes a Laker Girl position, they need to be ready to commit and know that it’s a year-long position, not a “gig” that dancers think you can do for two weeks or something like that. It’s a contract with an organization and there are rules and regulations to follow. It is a job, and sometimes cheerleaders or dancers may look at an NBA or NFL dance team and think, ‘Oh it’ll be a fun job.’ And don’t get me wrong, I want it to be both fun and lucrative for them, but it is work and it’s a year commitment. I just truly want to instill in some of the girls I work with, that they should take this job with a committed attitude, not only for themselves but their teammates as well. Also, that this position is something to take pride in. I admit, I am proud of this organization and this dance team.

Q: On if finding committed dancers is a more pressing qualifier for the coming group of Laker Girls:
Estrada: Yes, I think it’s probably more of a hot-button issue for me. I want girls that want to be here. A great example is that I’ve had girls who have auditioned for me for four straight years before finally making the team. I was so excited to say, ‘You made it!’ She took whatever words of advice she got, absorbed what was needed to be on an NBA team, and she made it, which showed that she really wanted to be there. And when she was on the team she was a great employee: on time, professional, and it was so nice to see that.

Q: On the shock of the team’s sweep to Dallas, and if it surprised the Laker Girls, hoping to dance again in Game 5:
Estrada: I tend to prepare them for the worst, so the night of Game 2, I corralled everyone and said, ‘OK, we’ll hopefully be seeing you next week, but I hope you all danced like it was your last night.’ They’re like, ‘Oh, no no no, we’ll be back!’ And I love that. But at that point, I was really needing to tell them that it could have been it. And when they lost, it was very sad for the girls.

Q: On what aspiring Laker Girls should focus on in advance of auditions on July 16:
Estrada: First of all, the 405 is going to be closed from the 10 to the 101. We put it on the website, and that’s something I hope all the prospects can figure out, because tryouts start at 9 a.m. sharp. The other thing would be that I hope they’re in dance class right now, I hope they’re training for not just the Laker Girls but to be a performer, a dancer. Not just for this one audition, so hopefully they’re in technical, jazz and hip hop training too. If you’re not in dancing shape, you’re going to be thrown material to learn quickly and it’s going to show.

Audition for the AHL Houston Aeros dance team, the Aero Dynamics!

The team is hosting two prep classes in advance of the auditions.

AeroDynamics Prep Classes
July 16th and July 23rd
Both days will be from 1pm-3pm
$25 each class.
Please RSVP to Aero Dynamic Dance Director/Choreographer – Kirstin-Alys
www.redsatindp.net / (281)-288-4599 / red_satin_dp@yahoo.com

Click here for additional details!