By Angela Woolen
The Sun News
Jun. 30, 2010
After attending her first Atlanta Hawks basketball game during the playoffs against the Orlando Magic earlier this year, one local woman — with a little prodding from her boyfriend — decided to try out for the A-Town Dance team.
Andrea Phillips, 21, of Warner Robins, who goes by Andi, saw the dancers during the game and mentioned to Daniel Erligh, her boyfriend, that she’d like to do that. He told her she should try out.
“While we were sitting there watching the dancers (at the game), it just clicked that she looks like she should be out there,” Erligh said.
Phillips found out the afternoon of June 20 that she made the team — coincidentally, two years to the day that she and Erligh met.
“I was shocked I made it through the first cut,” she said.
Erligh, she said, is thrilled for her.
“He is my main supporter,” Phillips said.
Erligh, 27, was with Phillips when she got the call.
After a thumbs-up sign from Phillips, Erligh said he let out a yell before she even got off of the phone.
Her mother, Kris McMahan, is also very proud of her daughter.
“We’re just tickled pink,” McMahan said.
Phillips, a Warner Robins High School graduate, is a pre-nursing student at Georgia Military College. She’s also a lifeguard at Robins Air Force Base. Her goal is to become an orthopedic nurse.
“I just love the bones,” Phillips said. “I know it’s really random.”
When Phillips gets the practice schedule, she plans to commute to Atlanta from her Warner Robins home.
Phillips started dancing when she was younger and was a cheerleader at Warner Robins Middle School for three years, as well as in ninth grade at Warner Robins High School. She has been out of the dancing loop for about five or six years.
She competed against more than 200 girls, according to McMahan. The final tryout had 52 contestants, and 18 were chosen. Only half of last year’s squad made the team this year.
“I just feel very blessed,” Phillips said.
This year, the New England Patriots Cheerleaders are the first team out the gate with their swimsuit calendar. The calendar is available for pre-order and they’ve posted a few sample photos on the Patriots website (click here)
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WALTHAM (FOX25 / MyFoxBoston.com) – Close to 100 women strutted their stuff in hopes of becoming a member of the Boston Celtics Dancers. Check out photos of their auditions.
PHOTO GALLERY: Celtics Dancers auditions
This was the first round of auditions for the team. According to the Boston Celtics:
The auditions will be three rounds, including an across-the-floor combination, a jazz combination and a solo routine performed by each prospect. The final audition process will be held from July 13-15, 2010, at the House of Blues nightclub in Boston. All dancers who advance to the Finals will conclude with the Final Audition Show at 8 p.m. on July 15.
The Boston Herald
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Now that the NBA Draft is history, the Boston Celtics are ready to pick a new team of Celtics Dancers!
Director Marina Ortega held auditions for potential Dancer draftees hoping to get the Green light at the team’s practice facility at HealthPoint .
Casting calls are also planned for New York and La-La before the finals at the House of Blues on July 15.
A visit to the New Jersey Nets dancer auditions.
by Kyle Stack / @NYsportswriter
Slam Online
June 25, 2010
There might not be a better way to spend a Saturday morning than with hundreds of beautiful, athletic women — all of whom are wearing form-fitting clothes. That was exactly what I did last Saturday as the New Jersey Nets held auditions for the 2010-11 Nets Dancers.
Kimberlee Garris, Entertainment Manager for the Nets, fielded more than 300 women at a dance studio on the Upper West Side. They competed in a series of dance exercises that day in order to earn a second audition last Monday. The final team is comprised of 16 dancers who do more than just perform during Nets games. They make public appearances around the Tri-State area, appear on TV and print advertisements and even travel around the world to visit the NBA and Nets fans.
I had a wild idea to quiz many of the auditioning dancers on a series of Nets trivia questions, from who the team’s two first overall draft picks have been (Derrick Coleman, Kenyon Martin) to owner Mikhail Prokhorov’s net worth according to Forbes (13.4 billion) to head coach Avery Johnson’s nickname when he played in the NBA (Little General). While the ladies did answer some of the questions correctly, it was a project better suited for cameras rather than a tape recorder.
What I was able to capture was an interview with Garris, who does a lot more for Nets entertainment than hand-picking the future Nets Dancers:
SLAM: What technical skills are you looking for from the dancers?
Kimberlee Garris: The first thing we do is put them through a technique audition. We look for pirouettes, bahtmas [I think he means battements], leaps…kicks, leaps and turns in layman’s terms. We have to see if they have some ballet and jazz training. Once we get through that cut, we take them into hip-hop, where they have a little more fun and hit a little harder. The basis is definitely dance technique because everybody on the team is a technically-trained dancer. They’re not cheerleaders; they’re not using poms. They’re dancing, doing jazz, hip-hop, Broadway, Latin, salsa, the whole works.
SLAM: They just need an all-around knowledge of dance.
KG: They do. They need to be versatile because we like to do something new.
SLAM: You do a lot of choreographed dances, right? So they have to memorize moves?
KG: Definitely. The first round, we’re looking at technique. The second round, we’re teaching them a real piece of choreography that the dancers did this season. And then they’ll perform it in groups of three. So we’re looking to see how quickly they get the style, their performance quality. Obviously, they need to perform for 20,000 fans so they need to have a great look and great energy and showmanship.
SLAM: Since the dance team veterans are also competing for spots on next season’s team, are they willing to help some of the new dancers trying out?
KG: We did a boot camp at our practice facility in preparation for this week and three of our veterans did some of the teaching. It’s important to them to have the best team possible so they’re willing to teach. When it comes to competing against each other, they’re going to bring their ‘A’ game.
SLAM: Should these auditions be on TV?
KG: You know, it is pretty exciting. It’s definitely dramatic. There are definitely tears. The first round happens so quickly so they dance for me for 20 seconds and they either get asked to stay or get cut. So that can be dramatic.
SLAM: What are their other responsibilities off the court?
KG: They do a ton of appearances throughout the Tri-State area. They’re really ambassadors of the Nets and the NBA. They’ve recently been to the Phillippines, [South] Korea, China, Singapore, so they need to be able to go out and teach dance clinics to kids all over the world, perform and give a taste of the NBA. Their role is important. They need to be well-spoken. We do an interview process to make sure they can represent us properly.
SLAM: What other entertainment teams will there be for the Nets next season?
KG: We have about 70 performers that we will bring back — Nets kids, Nets Sensational Seniors, who are 60-and-over hip-hop dancers, Team Hype (co-ed cheerleading and stunts), Sly, Mini-Sly, a drumline. You’ll see all of that over at Prudential Center. But we’re spending a summer learning new skills. We have Dunking Divas, they’re working all summer long. So there’ll be some surprises but we’ll continue to have about 70 people out there.
SLAM: It seems like a lot to manage.
KG: It is. It’s a hustle but everyone loves what they do so we’re happy to do it.
And after auditions were completed, here are the 2010-11 Nets Dancers…
By Lynn Hoppes
Page 2
June 24, 2010
The Los Angeles Lakers just won their 16th world championship and the NBA draft is Thursday night.
That means for the Lakers’ Bonnie-Jill Laflin, her work is never done.
Laflin, a former cheerleader and television host, is the first female scout in the NBA and she is also the assistant general manager for the Los Angeles D-Fenders, the Lakers’ developmental team.
Page 2 chased her down to ask 10 questions:
1. How in the world did you become a scout for the NBA and specifically the Lakers?
“I was covering the Lakers for KCAL/KCBS as a sports broadcaster and Jerry Buss wanted to add a female scout at the time. Buss was a friend of my father’s and I’ve always looked at him as a father figure, and he allowed me to be a scout for a year. The team liked my scouting reports and decided to keep me on. I’ve been with the team for about 10 years now.”
2. And you’re the assistant general manager for the Lakers’ developmental team, really?
“Yes I am. I really love working with the D-Fenders and watching these players develop and trying to make their dreams come true. I’ve been with the team since their inception in 2006 and I really enjoy being a part of seeing these players work their way up and hopefully play in the NBA one day.”
3. You started out as an NBA cheerleader? How can that parlay into working in the front office?
“I’ve been a sports fanatic all my life and I was going to basketball games since the age of 2 and always knew I wanted my career to be in sports. So I started off in the NBA as a cheerleader and then went into sports broadcasting where I was really able to study the game more thoroughly and understand the game through conversations with players and coaches.”
4. Be honest: If you weren’t working for the Lakers, would you be a fan of theirs and why?
“Yes, of course. It’s the best organization in the NBA. They have so much history. I love the old school Lakers with Jerry West, Magic Johnson and even my dog is named Wilt Chamberlain.”
5. Is it hard to get people to take you seriously and more than just a pretty face?
“Yes, people always think I’m just a dumb model-cheerleader, but then they talk to me and realize I know the game; I’m credible and knowledgeable. I understand it’s hard to believe a girl who has been a cheerleader and a model can know her stuff, but I do.”
6. Someone told me you have a Super Bowl ring. What?
“Yes, I was a cheerleader in the NFL for the Dallas Cowboys and San Francisco 49ers. I have one Super Bowl ring from the 49ers in 1994 and four NBA championship rings from the Lakers.”
7. You’ve dabbled in television and films. Is that something you want to eventually do?
“My love is sports, so whatever I might do in television and film there would have to be a sports tie-in.”
8. What else do you want to do? I hear you did a campaign for PETA.
“Yes, I’ve done three PETA campaigns to promote anti-fur and vegetarianism. My passion right now is for my charity, ‘Hounds and Heroes,’ which is dedicated to lift the morale of our active, wounded and veteran military troops worldwide and to increase community awareness about the cruelty to animals. I’ve also been on six military USO goodwill tours to Iraq and Afghanistan supporting our troops.”
9. So tell me the truth, do you wear a new outfit for each home Lakers game because someone might be taking your photo?
“Ha-ha! I wear a different outfit everyday regardless if I’m being photographed or not, but I’m most comfortable in a baseball [San Francisco Giants] hat and jeans and T-shirt.”
10. How in the world do you have a hyphenated first name?
“My daddy wanted Bonnie and my mama wanted Jill, and my family is from the South so two names is pretty common.”
On Monday, thousands of Laker fans congregated in downtown Los Angeles to scream their fool heads off during the Lakers’ triumphant parade. There are tons of photos online, including quite a few of the Laker Girls, who rode down Figueroa atop a fire truck. Check out these links: [Photos 1] [Photos 2] [Photos 3] [Photos 4] [Photos 5] [Photos 6] [Photos 7] [Photos 8] [Photos 9]
The 2010 season for the Canadian Football League kicked off on the 13th. The Montreal Alouettes haven’t updated their cheerleader pages yet, but there are some great photos of the squad at last Saturday’s game. Click here to see them in action, rocking the poms with those old-school block handles you haven’t see in ages.
K. L. Klein
Brookfield Now
June 22, 2010
She knows she can dance, and she wants to teach you how to, too.
Brookfield native Kim Pieronek, 26, opened Studio VIA School of Dance, 2445 N. 124th St., June 1.
Pieronek began training at age 3, and has been performing regionally and nationally since she was 12. Most recently, she performed for three years with the NBA as an Energee! dancer for the Milwaukee Bucks, which included a trip to China in 2008.
In addition to running her studio, she is the director of group fitness for the Wisconsin Athletic Club in Wauwatosa. She works there from 5 a.m. to 1 p.m. during the week. She runs her studio from 3 to 9 p.m.
“It is easy when you love what you are doing,” she said about the long days.
She doesn’t notice she’s tired until the weekend, she said.
“It’s long days with lots of coffee,” she said.
Economy
Opening a dance studio has been her dream since she was 8. But Pieronek said she has been getting some mixed reactions about opening one in this economy.
“Some people start telling me the dreams they wish they had fulfilled and the things they would do if they were young again,” she stated in a news release. “The rest give me a lecture on the bad economy.”
After graduating with academic honors in May of 2007 from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, where she had a double major in dance and athletic training, she moved back home to Brookfield with her parents. And she has been saving for her studio ever since.
One benefit to a bad economy, she joked, is low rent prices.
And while many families are finding ways to cut corners, she said, “People aren’t going to take away from their kids.” They still find ways to provide for extra-curricular things for their children, she said, and will cut out other things.
School
Studio VIA caters to dancers age 3 to adult, and will develop technique using cutting-edge choreography, up-to-date training techniques and performance opportunities.
Pieronek started with informal group classes for the summer, but plans to offer more structured classes this fall and spring with a recital in June. In addition to the group classes, she also teaches some private lessons.
She has about 20 to 25 students, but has room to grow to a couple hundred students, she said.
“I want to be big,” she said.
She is working solo but, depending on enrollment, hopes to add teaching staff in two years.
While her focus is dancing and teaching, she said there is a balance between running a business and her creative side.
Pieronek said she has participated in seminars and relies on her dad, who owns a business, and her older brother, who is getting a master’s degree in business.
“You just have to know who to ask,” she said.
Experience/dream
Pieronek attended Brookfield Elementary, Elmbrook Middle, Wisconsin Hills and Brookfield Central High schools. While attending Central, she was captain and MVP for the Brookfield Central Lancerettes her sophomore, junior and senior years. She also traveled to Paris for a two-week performance opportunity. She continued pursuing dance opportunities in college.
Dancing wasn’t forced on her. She said she tried other things, like soccer and clarinet and violin lessons.
“But I always came back to dance,” she said.
