Dancers win ticket to big game

At a one-day audition, hundreds of local performers gain a spot in the pre-game show in January.

By BABITA PERSAUD

© St. Petersburg Times, published October 8, 2000

[Times photos: Toni L. Sandys] Joann Pirson,23, a student at FAMU in Tallahassee, hugs her friends Khamilah Allen, 21, left, and Ane Daniels, 37, right, after seeing her name on a list of selected dancers for a Super Bowl XXXV performance.

TAMPA -- As soon as Monica Rodriguez spotted her name highlighted in yellow on a list outside the auditorium door, she pressed the cell phone to her ear. "Mom," said the 15-year-old from Brooksville. "Guess what? I made it!"

She was going to Super Bowl XXXV -- to perform. "Like my heart stopped," said the teen, letting out a shriek.

It's not even January, and already Tampa Bay is producing Super Bowl winners.

Nearly 500 were selected on-the-spot after auditioning for the pre-game show Saturday at the Bob Martinez Center at the University of Tampa.

The one-day audition was the only chance local residents had to get on the field during the Super Bowl and maybe see their face on national television in the five-minute performance before the national anthem. They won't have seats for the game, but they'll be in Raymond James Stadium.

Danielle Griffiths, 16, of New Port Richey, laughs as she misses a step near the end of the dance routine while auditioning.

"An experience of a lifetime," said Cathy Molenda, 15, of Palm Harbor.

Nearly 1,000 hopefuls came, mostly women. At times, the line for registration leading up to the folding tables looked more like a mob in leotards.

The dancers were divvied up into groups of 75 by a megaphone-carrying Tamica Lee, a coordinator for American All-Star, the Louisiana dance company given the task of running the auditions.

With ID numbers safety-pinned to shorts, the dancers streamed single file into the basketball gym. They stood in rows, waiting to learn the routine from the woman on the platform.

There were all kinds of dancers: Some in shorts bearing their high school logos. Others, older, in shirts advertising their gyms.

One woman's T-shirt showed her spirit: "Some of the best athletes are on the sideline."

Elizabeth Portwood of Covington, La., teaches a dance routine to 150 potential dancers during auditions Saturday.

The routine wasn't difficult, most dancers said. It had only 10 kicks, a few pivots, shifts to left and right. But it was fast. Sudden movements produced lots of squeaks as tennis shoes rubbed the gym floor during the run-through.

The dancers had 15 minutes to learn the routine and another 15 minutes to practice to the bass-laden music coming from the speakers.

Then, the woman on the platform yelled, "Got it?"

Judging began.

"I don't even look at physical appearance," said Lesslee Kay Fitzmorris, president of American All-Star, up in the bleachers with a yellow highlighting marker.

"I look at how quickly can they pick up the material."

With only seven rehearsals before the big game, she doesn't have time for fumbles. "I don't want you to waste my time and I don't want to waste your time," she later told the dancers who had been selected.

"This is a professional production," she said. Passing the auditions was only the beginning. Be responsible. Pay attention.

The dancers will regroup in the week leading up to the Super Bowl to begin rehearsals.

On the big day, no one should be running into a camera crane. No one should be going "Oh my God where do I go?"

She laid down other nos: No jewelry and that means doing, if necessary, "tongue checks." Another no: "I don't want your mama calling me. Be your own person."

The dedication will pay off, she said. "It goes by like that. But it's something you never forget."

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