Life as a 6-year NBA Dancer, Warriors Dancers and Blazers Dancers
Jackie shares her experiences as a 6-year NBA dancer, dancing for multiple NBA teams, ending her dance career in the pandemic, and shares her advice to other aspiring pro dancers.
*Jackie is currently a Seattle Seahawks Dancer as of 2021.
DANCE JOURNEY
“I was a high school cheerleader for 3 years. I started dancing when I was 19 in the arena football league (yes you heard correct - 19 years old!) I stayed with the Spokane Shock arena football dance team for 6 seasons 2009-2014.
I auditioned for the Washington State University Crimson Girls 3 years before I finally made it my senior year. I stayed for a 5th year so that I could dance one more season - so a total of 2 seasons dancing in college. In college we competed at USA D1 hip-hop nationals in 2012 and we won1st place. In 2013 our dance team won 3rd place. I simultaneously danced for my college dance team, the arena football team, and was nominated “Most Valuable Teammate.”
I auditioned and DID NOT make the Seattle Seagals in 2013 (as of 2021, Jackie is a Seattle Seahawks Dancers.) I decided to audition the summer of 2014 for the Golden State Warriors dance team and made it. I stayed with them for one season, which was their first championship year in their championship stretch.
I was extremely homesick - so after that season I went north and auditioned for the Portland Trailblazers Dancers in the summer of 2015, only three weeks after the championship game for the Golden State Warriors.
I stayed with the Blazers Dancers from 2015-2020. While with the Blazers Dancers I traveled to Los Angeles for mini camps, had amazing choreographers flown in for a mini camp in Portland (Rob Rich, Shandon Perez, Mina Ortega, Lisa Zargoza, Joey Velas, Oscar Hernandez), attended the ProAction dance convention in Las Vegas (2019), was in Chengdu China for the NBA China Tour 2019, and had 6 performances at a tournament in China as an NBA dancer.
I decided to retire with the pandemic so that I could move back home to Spokane and get into coaching and choreography.”
Golden State Warriors Dancers
Her first professional dance audition was with the Golden State Warriors for the 2014-2015 season, in San Francisco. She spent her first season with the Warrior Girls winning the 14-15 NBA championship. She had the most amazing and impactful experience as a Warriors Dancer but being from Portland she was homesick and ready to be back around family.
She made such strong friendships with her teammates in San Francisco that in the seasons following she would go down and visit them in the locker room when the Portland Trailblazers and Golden State Warriors would play.
Blazers Dancers
Jackie moved back north to Portland after her first season with the Warriors dance team to be back in her hometown with family and friends. She auditioned for the Blazers dance team in 2014. She spent almost 5 seasons dancing with them until the 2020 pandemic hit.
Finishing her NBA dance career in the pandemic
Jackie decided to finish up her career as an NBA dancer in the midst of the pandemic shut down.
“It is interesting because I started in the most exciting NBA experience possible and here I am ending with all of this craziness – quite a whirl wind.”
The Sideline Secrets
“I am just so excited that we are creating a platform here for people to really be able to dive in and explore more about professional dancing. I hope everybody that takes the time to view this site and watch these videos gets inspired and excited to try new things, new teams, and get out for auditions.”
“The hardest part [auditions] is just putting yourself out there, so if you can do that, that is a win and enjoy the experience! If you find that one team is not quite the best fit for you, that is not a problem, you can always audition for other dance teams. You just want to be your best self wherever that is.”
Instagram: jac_larae
A special thank you to Jackie for allowing us to share her inspiring and empowering journey as a professional dancer. Congrats on becoming a 2020-2021 Seattle Seahawks Dancer! XO!
The Sideline Secrets