Harmony Hunt in Muscle and Fitness Magazine

Extra! Extra! Read all about it! Harmony Hunt, veteran member of the Los Angeles Clippers Spirit Dance Team (and all around cool chick) is featured in the newest edition of Muscle and Fitness Magazine. Woo! Go Harmony!

You need to go out right now and buy a copy of the magazine. It’s the April 2009 mag with Bruce Lee on the cover. April, not March. I emphasize this because the store I went to only had March and there is a decided lack ‘o Harmony in that edition. (I know this because I spent a good 15 minutes flipping through the magazine trying to find the article, all the time thinking “If Harmony is messing with me, I will not hesitate to let the air out of all four of her tires.”)

Harmony, I apologize. Your tires are perfectly safe.
(From me, anyway.)

Right, so anyway, go get the mag, and read up on our girl. In the meantime, check out a few bonus photos on the M&F website.

(You won’t believe me, but that is what the girl actually looks like in real life. Crazy, ain’t it?)

Congratulations 2009 ChivaGirls!

After rigorous auditions last week, Chivas USA has selected the 2009 ChivaGirls. I was there and will give you the whole scoop on what went down. But in the meantime, here are the ChivaGirls! (Also, make sure to check out the video above, and tons of photos from the audition.)


Row 1: Alheli, Amy, Ariel, Ashley, and Dalila
Row 2: Emi, Jebbell, Kelley, and Laura
Row 3: Mandi, Marie, Megan, and Monique
Row 3: Nicole, Sandra, Serena, and Tiffany

Charger Girl Prep Class

Aspiring San Diego Charger Girls can get the inside scoop on tryouts by attending the team’s pre-audition workshop on March 15.

Chargers.com: This three-hour session will include a dance clinic, mock audition, audition tips, Q&A with the Charger Girls and information packet. You will meet the director and the 2008 Charger Girls who will provide you with insight on what it takes to become a San Diego Charger Girl!

The deadline for registration is Thursday, March 12. Click here for details.

Local Woman Enjoying Time with New Orleans Hornets Honeybees

By Thad Angelloz
The Daily Comet

You wouldn’t think cheerleading would bring an already close family closer.

But according to Krista Neal, that’s exactly what happened after she was chosen to become a New Orleans Hornets Honeybee in July of 2007.

Neal, who has four sisters and one brother, said her family loves to watch her perform at games.

“My mom has always supported me, but because of work my dad missed a lot of my recitals and dances when I was younger,” Neal said. “Since I’ve become a Honeybee he’s had more opportunities to see me dance. My brother and sisters also like to see me dance. It’s a blast for me to have my own fan club.”

KristaStrangely enough, the 20-year-old Honeybee never thought of herself as an NBA cheerleader when she graduated from Hahnville High School.

Despite dancing since the age of 5 and attending American All-Stars dance camp in high school, Neal didn’t give cheerleading much thought as she prepared to enter her freshman year at Nicholls State University.

“Never in my wildest dreams did I think I’d be doing this right now,” she said.

But after hearing about a Honeybee audition through the Internet, Neal decided to give it a shot.

Surprisingly, Neal soon became a finalist after making her way through two cuts and a thorough interview.

She estimates more than 100 women attended the tryouts.

The dance team ended up keeping 21 women.

“My first plan was to try and be a Saintsation,” Neal said. “After I found out I had missed the tryouts I decided to go to the Honeybee tryouts. I’m a big basketball fan so I thought it would be a good fit for me.”

Former Honeybee and current manager and dance team choreographer, Ashley Deaton, said she knew Neal was right for the job the moment she met her.

“Krista may look like the girl next door off the court, but she really turns it on when she performs,” Deaton said. “You can tell she loves it and that she’s having the time of her life. Because of that you can’t take your eyes off her. She’s the kind of girl we need on the court. This was obvious to us at auditions, so we had to select her for our team.”

Neal doesn’t believe there’s any down side to being a Honeybee.

Her favorite things about being a representative of an NBA franchise are getting to meet different people and having the chance to be a role model for younger girls.

“I know they (young girls) look up to me,” Neal said. “I always think about that in everything that I do.”

After holding down an outside job, dancing and attending Nicholls last year, Neal decided to take a semester off this spring to manage her schedule better.

“It got to be where it was too much,” the elementary education major said. “I’m going to go back to school this summer, but with the way things were for me I thought I needed to drop something for now.”

Although she calls Luling home, Neal’s originally from Houma and still has family members who live in Terrebonne Parish.

Her love of dancing and her so-called “Honeybee family” has made her strongly consider a future beyond the Honeybees.

“I could see myself starting up a dance studio or something,” Neal said. “I really enjoy dancing, and getting the chance to share that with others would be nice.”

Neal credits the New Orleans Hornets organization for making her feel at ease whenever she steps on the court to perform.

“They (team’s administration) genuinely care about us,” Neal said. “They don’t ever put us in an uncomfortable situation and this opportunity has allowed me to do a lot of things out in the community.”

[New Orleans Honeybees]

Christian Naven, Head Coach Sixers Dancers

It’s been a exciting half year for Christian Naven.

Sixers Dancers

At end of last June, she to came from Illinois to Philadelphia to be the new Sixers Dancers Head Coach. She barely had time to catch her breath before auditions started. Two rounds of cuts and a final audition at Chickie’s Pete’s produced a squad of 10 veterans and 6 rookies, a team of great dancers that will connect with the fans.

But Christian was busy with a lot more than selecting her new squad. Lining up sponsorships, new uniforms, preparations for the new Sixers Dancers Calendar (which has been a huge success) were all tasks that she normally would have been working on when the basketball season ended in the spring. Add on twice-weekly three-hour rehearsals on top her already compressed schedule and you can see why Christian might need to catch up on her sleep.

But she’s no stranger to multitasking. Back when she was a student at Illinois State University, she was the coach of the dance team, The Redline Express. While she was running the squad she had to come up with new composition and routines for her classes (she was a dance major) and at the same time she needed to create new choreography for for classes she taught at a local dance studio.br /br /Christian stayed at ISU has been coaching The Redline Express for the past 7 years. In that time she’s had dancers go to the NBA and NFL as well as perform in music videos and at local concerts.

And she has lots of big plans. For game night she says, “The Dancer’s routines will be sharp and innovative. My goal is to continue to see that they perform with charisma in front of the most loyal fans in the league.” While she describes her style as “Hot Jazz” a fusion of Hip Hop and Technical Jazz, the Dancers will be performing all styles of dance this season. Christian says she wants the fans at the Wachovia Center to be constantly thinking, “What will the Sixers Dancers be doing next?”

And so once Christian gets some free time, what does she plan to do? Actually she’s going to dance some more. She has always wanted to learn Salsa and Ballroom Dance and she’s looking forward to taking advantage of some of the great dance studios that Philadelphia has to offer. Aside from dance Christian love watching movies and reading. A self-described bookwork she lists Push Comes to Shove, the autobiography of Twyla Tharp, as her favorite book.

[Philadelphia Sixers Dancers]