by Orlan H. Ree, Jr.
Cheer Times
Click here for a bigger version of the photo
After two exhausting weekends in which better than 700 hopefuls sweated and toiled through three rounds of auditions, the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders selected 44 candidates for training camp.
In professional cheerleading, there is nothing else like the DCC’s Training Camp, a two and a half month long process in which candidates experience a myriad of sculpting, from learning table etiquette and public speaking to hair pops and leg kicks.
“We are looking for attractive, poised and talented entertainers who can be molded into elite performers and outstanding role models for our world-class organization,” said Kelli Finglass, Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders Director.
By the end of training camp, the final roster will be trimmed to approximately 36 cheerleaders.
A note from Sasha: You’ll recognize a few familiar faces, I’m sure, including the veterans and some ladies you may remember from prior seasons of “Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making the team.” However, you may or may not recognize Malia (back row, second from the left), and Jackie (2nd row, 5th from the left.) Malia was a Houston Texans Cheerleader (2005-2007) and Jackie was a member of the San Francisco 49ers Gold Rush (2005-2009). Work it out, ladies!
There are a couple other faces that look familiar, but I can’t quite place them. If you recognize anyone else in the photo drop me a note at sasha@procheerleaderblog.com 🙂
By DeliaTheArtist
for Current.com
In 1991, Darlene Cavalier was a professional cheerleader for the 76ers. Today however, she’s cheering for a different team – Citizen Science!
“Citizen Scientists aren’t waiting for an invitation to get involved. They are literally changing the way science gets done,” Darlene says. Her website, ScienceCheerleader.com, is a wealth of information as well as THE resource for anyone who wants to get more involved with science efforts in their communities. “It’s important that the citizen scientists get something out of the project and for that to happen researchers must believe that the public is capable of more than just data entry. Volunteers should be given the opportunity to ask questions and draw upon the data. In its most successful forms, citizen scientists even help shape science policy.”
ScienceCheerleader.com’s Project Finder helps connect people with scientific projects in their area of interest. What are some examples of things people can do? “Tag butterflies to help track their migratory habits, count fireflies to help researchers better understand why they appear to be diminishing in some places but not others (talk about a fun family project; my kids and I learned how to differentiate between males, females and stealth predators!), sort through galaxies, help meteorologists predict weather patterns, record earthquakes, help project flu outbreaks, you name it!”
Darlene is also working on having more user generated content on her site as well as “a full-functioning Mother-of-all-Citizen-Science websites” – read my entire interview with Darlene Cavalier, The Science Cheerleader, in this awesome 4th installment of Science is Speaking! [Click here]
Click here to check out the short video on Seahawks.com!
Second round underway for ‘America’s Sweethearts’
Amanda Salinas
The 33 News
May 29, 2009
DALLAS, TX – By the end of this weekend, 45 women in North Texas will be on a much sought-after list. Those ladies will move on to the final round of tryouts for the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders.
Today I asked the judges what it takes to make the squad.
They’re pretty and poised all smiles in their suits, ready for an interview that will make or break their chance to become a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader.
Inside the studios, Nicole Hamilton is done with her panel interview. If she makes the squad, this will be her fifth year on the team, “This has been the most rewarding experience I can honestly say I’ve ever had,” Nicole said. This year more than 600 girls turned out for the first round of auditions. Only 75 got callbacks, one of which is Nicole Palas. “It is tough though it is very hard,” Palas said about the team’s tryouts.
The last part of the auditions happens the training studio, where the finalists will undergo a rigorous two-month training camp, cutting the squad down to just 36 women.
Kelli Finglass, the squad’s director, said the team has rehearsals almost every night with physical fitness, all while learning up to 50 routines over the summer.
Finglass has helped transform the squad and make it a marketable brand, from the successful bikini calendars to the hit reality TV show.
Country Music Television is filming the Cheerleaders fourth season of “Making the Team,” making the process very public.
“The disappointments are bigger; the dreams are bigger,” Finglass said.
The women who have those dreams, like veteran Nicole Hamilton, say it’s all worth it. “You workout, you eat right, you uphold your beauty and your poise. You can be anything; you just have to work hard at it.”
Finglass told us this year the new Cowboys Stadium in Arlington is playing a role during tryouts. They have to think about how a girl will look on a 60-yard high definition screen.
Oakland Raiderettes take a spin around MND-B
By Staff Sgt. Mark Burrell and Staff Sgt. James Selesnick
NewsBlaze.com
June 06,2009
Photos (click on each to view hi-res version)
The Other OTA
By Sherri Thompson
Seahawks.com
June 2, 2009
The Sea Gals, comprised of 12 rookies, 13 veterans from the 2008 squad and 3 veterans from previous years are hard at work getting ready for the 2009 season.
Click here to view photos from practice
This past weekend the 28 Sea Gals spent a full two days of dancing, bonding, laughing, and sweating. This was the first workshop held at the Virginia Mason Athletic Center in Renton. The weather cooperated perfectly with plenty of bright hot sun and just the right amount of a cool breeze coming off the beautiful water of Lake Washington.
The 2009 Sea Gals squad is made up of 12 rookies, 13 veterans from the 2008 squad and 3 veterans from various past years. It makes it exciting with so many new faces and personalities! This group of women has very interesting professions outside of Sea Gals and some truly amazing experiences to share. The weekend workshop is about getting to know each other, learning new choreography and even a test on football knowledge.
Saturday began with a couple of getting to know each other exercises, team competition, and some group creative choreography. We had guest choreographers from the Seattle dance community which we thoroughly enjoyed as well.
Sunday began with more choreography. Next came the dreaded test! Naturally there are prizes for the high scores and duties for the lowest scores. The veterans had fun putting their creativity and acting skills to work as they put on skits for the squad about the dos and don’ts of being a Sea Gal.
This group is truly one of the best teams I have had the pleasure to work with. I can’t wait for you to see them dancing at Qwest Field this coming season.
The Seattle Humane Society’s 20th Annual Tuxes & Tails event took place in early May, and raised about $600,000 to benefit Seattle Humane Society animals. The evening included a 4-course dinner, as well as live and silent auctions. As always, the highlight of the evening was the Celebrity & Pet Fashion Show, which featured local personalities walking the catwalk with their own pet or with one of the shelter’s adoptable dogs. The Sea Gals participate every year, and this time around, veterans Miranda, Nicole, Gena, and Jessica, hit the runway with some of their furry four-legged friends. (photos)
© Kevin Wrenn Photography, 2009 – KevinWrenn.com
By Matt Calkins
The Press Enterprise
May 26, 2009
LOS ANGELES – In what form, I don’t know. From which religion, I couldn’t tell you.
And even though it might prompt letters, I’m gonna say this with firm conviction: There is a God.
Here’s an email from my boss last week to prove it.
Subject: Column idea
Matt,
(An editor) was browsing through the media guide and noticed there were two Laker Girls from Corona and Temecula. See what you can do.
I scrolled down thinking I might find Bill Gates’ pin number, too.
The assignment was to interview Corona’s Richelle Rodriguez and Temecula’s Lindsey Tuer in hopes of better understanding what it’s like to be part of the NBA’s most famous dance team.
So last Thursday, before the Lakers met the Nuggets in Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals, I trudged down to Staples Center ready to (cough) work.
Tuer actually had the night off, so my only face-to-face would be with Rodriguez, whom I’d arranged to speak with at 4:30 p.m. But alas, after waiting outside the Laker Girls dressing room for about 25 minutes, it was 4:40 and I still hadn’t seen her.
“Nobody’s walked out of there in the last 10 minutes, right?” I asked an usher.
“No,” he responded. “But if you need to talk to someone in there, just knock.”
Knock on the Laker Girls dressing-room door? I thought. Isn’t that something you win in a “Price is Right” showcase?
But I did so nonetheless, and was pointed down the hall to Laker Girl director, Lisa Estrada, the point of contact for all team members.
“Where would you like to do the interview?,” Estrada asked.
Um…my high school reunion? I thought.
“In the stands is fine,” I said.
Now, if for some reason you’re ever asked to describe to a sketch artist what you think a Laker Girl might look like, you’ll end up with a portrait of Rodriguez. The 20-year-old is a Colgate, Noxema and Pantene Pro V commercial all rolled into one…yet still manages to come off a little shy.
Turns out dancing has long been the lubricant that’s helped Rodriguez wriggle out of her shell – not to mention a talent that earned her the title of Youngest Laker Girl when she made the team as an 18-year-old last year.
Right now she’s studying dance at Riverside Community College with aspirations of a career in make-up artistry.
Tuer, who I talked with over the phone, is a 23-year-old Temecula Valley High grad living in Huntington Beach. Now in her fourth year with the squad, she works as a bartender and song-leading coach at El Toro High, and hopes to make it in the entertainment industry.
After talking to each for about a half an hour, here’s what some of my extensive (this darn cough won’t go away) research revealed.
1. The Laker Girls are bright: Think mascara is the only three-syllable word they know? Not so much. Past squad members have included medical students, financial analysts, pharmaceutical reps and college professors. Granted… they might occasionally get one of these, but still.
2. The Laker Girls are big-hearted: In addition to the bi-weekly practices and 48 games per season, they attend three to five charitable functions per week, ranging anywhere from the Make-a-Wish Foundation to local volunteer projects. I believe they are also the leading cause of philanthropy in males 18-40.
3. The Laker Girls are brutal: Before each game, the ladies lock hands in a circle, shout something alliteratively sadistic toward the Lakers’ opponents and yell “huh!” Examples? “Nail the Nuggets!” “Bomb the Blazers!” “Slaughter the Suns!”
“You don’t say ‘Murder the Magic’, do you?” I asked Tuer.
“Probably,” she said with a laugh. “We’re pretty hardcore.”
The audition process is no less merciful. Only 22 of the 500-plus women who tried out made the team this season – and everyone has to re-audition each year.
Oh, and how do you know if you made the first cut? Easy. A judge didn’t walk by and snip your wristband off.
It should be pointed out that the Laker Girls are not allowed to fraternize with the players themselves.
I did, however, ask Lakers guard Sasha Vujajic if he’s ever been distracted by them during a game.
“Never,” he said.
Sounds about right.
First of all, getting to the NBA generally requires a healthy supply of focus. And second – the Laker Girls are actually one of the more conservatively dressed dance teams in the league.
“I always laugh when guys are afraid that taking a picture with us is going to get them in trouble with their wife or girlfriend,” Rodriguez said. “I mean, it’s not like we’re the Hooters girls.”
Hey boss, I got an idea for a follow-up.
Washington Wizards: Congratulations to Javai for being voted in as the last Wizard Girl. Javai was one of two participants that were put in a contest to determine who would receive the last spot on the Wizard Girls. Voting ran from Monday morning through Wednesday at noon. To see more on the 2009-10 Wizard Girls Auditions please click here.
The Cleveland Cavalier Girls are featured in this week’s Sports Illustrated NBA dance team gallery. Click here to view the game day action.
