2007 Colorado Rapids Cheerleaders Tryouts

It was a good day to be a dancer for the 11 young women who showed up at the Pepsi Center on Feb. 24 to try out for the Colorado Rapids dance team. The small number of women auditioning meant that most of them would ultimately make the team, as the judges would only be making four cuts.

The audition began with Rapids Cheerleading Director Kristal Russell leading the group through a short repertoire of dance moves, then turning on the music and watching how quickly the girls had digested the steps. The routine became increasingly difficult after every new series of moves Russell taught, until the dancers eventually were performing a full dance.

The dance audition and the following individual interviews gave the panel the information they needed to evaluate the dancers in three main areas, Russell said.

"We judged them on their dance ability, their physical appearance because obviously the uniforms make us have to do that and then we also judged them on their speaking ability because we do promotions throughout the community and we need to make sure they have a good presence about them," Russell said.

Mary M., who lives in Parker and was on the dance team during the 2006 season, said she felt confident about how she had performed at the audition.

"I think the audition went pretty well,"Mary said. "It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be."

She said her favorite part of being a Rapids dancer last season was meeting the players and interacting with fans during promotions.

Kaitlin W., 23, said she was motivated to try out because she hasn't danced in a while and she misses it. Weeks said she also enjoys giving the fans a reason to get riled up.

"I think it is so much fun to get in front of the crowd and perform and make everybody smile and dance and have a good time,"Kaitlin said.

After the dance auditions, it was time for the 18 male and female prospective "stunters" to show off their skills, which include tumbling and throwing. Russell said the judges made sure each stunter performed with every other stunter during the tryout to ensure that they were able to easily change partners.

The judges notified everyone who tried out whether they made the team or not by e-mail the night of Feb. 24, resulting in the following list of those who made it:

Dance
Mary M.
Kaitlin W.
Meghan S.
Tracy S.
Amanda S.
Amy P.
Erin P.

Stunt
David F.
Mike F.
Richie T.
Nicole V.
Jacklyn S.
Andrew J.
Tara U.
Jillian G.
Ryan W.
Rachel Z.
Seth W.
Lara G.