|
Sponsors:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Natural Hair & Beauty
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
On the 9th & 16th of May 2010 auditions were held at Glasgow's premier health club DW Sports Fitness to find a 25 member crew for the 2010-2011 Scottish Rockettes Pro-Dance Team.
Preliminaries on the 9th were a huge success. Many fresh new faces came out to the open audition along with the returning veterans, and they all had one thing in common – they were all hoping to have what it takes to make it through to the final round the following weekend.
During this initial round the applicants were put through a set of demanding fitness tests; including body-fat analysis, endurance, strength and flexibility to name just a few, in order to produce personal fitness reports to be used by the judges in the final round.
Next up was a Dance Technique section, where each dancer was asked to execute a series of kicks, leaps and pirouettes in isolation before they were incorporated in a demanding jazz routine taught by Dance Squad Manager Carole Anne Deeney. And Rocks' fans will be able to see the audition piece at the Glasgow Rocks' home opener at the Kelvin Hall International Sports Arena in October 2010.
A selection of dancers were selected to return the following Sunday for the final round in the audition process. And this year the applicants would find out who made the final 50 by logging onto Real Radio's website. Here photos and video clips of each of the finalists were posted and Drive Time show DJ Steve McKenna invited the Real Radio listeners to vote for their favourite. These results were correlated and passed to the judging panel for consideration in the final selection
After warm-up and stretch sessions the applicants were taught the remainder of the jazz routine which they were then required to perform for a celebrity judging panel.
"I always get really nervous for the girls because I have been there. It is nerve-wracking to learn a dance and perform it in front of the panel, so I feel for them" said Carole Anne.
"Every year the girls from the previous years' team have to re-audition and spots are not guaranteed" Carole Anne added.
The applicants coped remarkably well, almost certainly due to the extremely high standard of dance ability demonstrated on the day. This made it all the more difficult for the celebrity judging panel to narrow down their choices for the final squad. As well as their dance performance, each applicant was asked a series of questions by the judges in order to assess their personality, commitment and enthusiasm.
For the first time in Rockettes history the public were invited to watch the applicants' interviews and announcement of the 2010-2011 team. Over 250 people packed into the Radisson Hotel to be part of this event. "For the first time, people will actually see how tough our auditions are!" said Carole Anne. She added: "I know that the girls found this very nerve wracking but I hope having the support of friends and family in the audience made it a little easier."
The atmosphere in the room was very tense as the final decision was made.
"It was a tough decision," Carole Anne said, "because all of the girls were very pretty and super-talented, but after much deliberation we feel that we picked a dynamite team." The girls were asked to line up in front of the judges as the event host Ciaran O'Toole called out the 2010-2011 team, one dancer at a time.
Carole Anne was delighted with the final selection, "with an (almost) equal split of 13 returning veterans and 12 rookies it's excellent mix of experience and new talent, resulting in a first-class squad!"
The dance team start training straight away in preparation for the Glasgow Rocks home opener in October and also for a number of promotional events booked during the summer, and the girls can't wait to show you what they've got at these events.
Again we would like to thank everyone for all their hard work and enthusiasm during this event and express our gratitude to all the dancers who turned up. I'm sure all the applicants will agree it was a great 2 days and an experience they will never forget.
In the end it was very close and we would like to wish those not lucky enough to be selected all the best and we hope to see them again for next year's tryouts.
We would also like to thank all of our judges, including: Scottish Television presenter Johnny Pender, TV and Radio presenter Heather Suttie, River City actress Pamela Byrne, GMTV News Editor Catherine Brown, Glasgow Rocks Operations Manager Daniel Bajwoluk & Rock/Real Radio Station Manager Ciaran O'Toole.
     
Photo Gallery: Preliminaries (38 photos) – 09-05-2010
     
Photo Gallery: Finals (55 photos) – 16-05-2010
|
|
