What it Truly is to be an NBA Dancer
The inside look into what it truly entails to be an NBA dancer and a quick walk through of what it consists of, behind-the-scenes.
“All great things take time, persistence, and determination. ”
It takes years on years of training and developing our skill sets to make it to the professional level and have the opportunity of dancing for the NBA. Every single dancer you see on the court has a wide variety of talented backgrounds in dance, all while having full-time careers and/or attending school full-time. Being a part of these iconic dance teams keep us coming back year after year, keeps us auditioning countless times to make it, and ultimately give us some of the most incredible experiences of our lives.
Although everyone knows who NBA dance teams are, not everyone knows exactly what it is to be an NBA dancer. There is so much that goes into being a professional dancer that never really gets shown or talked about.
We’re going to go through everything it is to be an NBA dancer from what you see on game days, to how things work behind-the-scenes.
***All dance teams vary
Training/Dance Background
Although every dancer has a different journey and dance background, we all have countless years of dance training. Lets go through some of the common backgrounds of dancers you may see on the court:
Training in all styles of dance from the age of 3 (ballet, hip-hop, jazz, contemporary)
Competition and high school dance team members
Top collegiate dancers
Backup dancers for major recording artists
Professional dancers for companies or other fields
Classical and ballet professionals
Past training in gymnastics, cheerleading, etc.
Auditions
Every NBA dancer has gone through an intensive dance audition, testing both dance and interpersonal skills.
Teams hold open auditions every season, with not one single dancer guaranteed a roster spot. This means that you are always working to better yourself season to season. Complacency is not anywhere in the job description.
Auditions not only test your performance, choreography, style, and dance technique abilities but also your public speaking and interview skills.
Generally, NBA dance team auditions are about 1 week long (every dance team varies) with preliminaries, semi-finals, and finals (training camp).
Practices
Practices start immediately after making the team. Auditions typically start in the summer and we begin practices immediately following the team selection in order to be fully prepared for the upcoming season.
We practice:
3 times a week for 3-4 hours. Typically starting in the later afternoon. We generally arrive 30-45 minutes early to review choreography and/or tricks for that practice.
Some of the components of NBA dance team practices:
Team workout
Team stretch
Reviewing team sidelines
Learning new choreography – routines and sidelines
Cleaning routines
Reviewing and resetting routines for game days
Practicing and reviewing in-game hot timeout routines (HOTS)
Practicing formations for in-game timeouts and on-court lines
Practices are intense and require high stamina in order to execute all requirements at the highest level.
Practices before the practice
As you can see a lot goes into dance team practices, which means you have to come in top of your game - every practice. With that comes the “practice before practice.”
You show up to practice ready to go (also because we don’t want to be at the studio until 10:30/11 every night.)
If we learn a routine one practice and plan to clean it the next practice, that means you are expected to come ready with that new choreography so that all you’re focusing on is the routine’s cleans - verse still trying to practice getting that choreography in your memory.
There are some teams that hold auditions for each routine in order to be able to perform at the game.
Appearances
Appearances are community and charity events that the dancers consistently attending during each season.
As dancers, we are ambassador’s for our sports team, constantly out in the community speaking to the media, working alongside the community, and getting to know our fans.
We typically have appearances throughout the week, on top of practices and games. We occasionally have appearances that overlap our practice times so we would come straight from a 1-2 hour appearance into practice!
Juniors program
During the season we hold practices and perform along side our Juniors program. These are young dancers (4-14) that we are able to dance alongside, train, and mentor throughout the season. We adore our juniors programs and love seeing the smiles that come along with being a part of this opportunity.
Photo shoots and Media
We typically have a few photo shoots every season. We have one photo shoot during auditions, one right before the season, and one in the middle of the season. There photos are used towards representation of our roster and posters to use throughout the season.
We are also do interviews, Q&A’s, short routines, and more the media.
Outside Training
Aside from practice and “practice outside of practice” we do studio dance classes and training on our own time.
Many of us keep up on dance classes in all styles here and there throughout the season (Ballet, Hip-hop, jazz, etc.)
We also do a lot of exercising, not only in practice but on our own time. Cycling classes, lifting sessions, cardio, running, strength training, working with a personal trainer, and more! It is important for us to always stay in OUR individual personal best shape. This is not just to have a “fit appearance” but to have the athletic ability and stamina for the constant dancing and phsyical activity we depend on for what we do! Plus, imagine how any one would look with all of the cardio and intense dancing that we do throughout a season!
Games Days
With an NBA schedule - typically each one of us is dancing 85% of all home games. We have 41 home games so we always have dancers with games off or being “on-call” to keep it from being too overwhelming.
Although game days is where we get to put to show the polished products, like our routines and uniforms, there is a lot of work that goes on before-hand. This is generally how a game day goes for the dance team:
We generally need to be ready to head out onto the court for practice 3 hours before tip-off. Dancers get there 1 hour to 30 minutes before that time.
For instance, if we have a 7pm game we have to be ready to go out on to the court by 4pm.
If we have a halftime performance with an artist, we generally arrive up to 5 hours before the game to run rehearsals on the court with everyone.
We generally spend about an hour running dances, formations for timeouts, and running over last minute cleans.
After court times we have about 45 minutes to 1 hour to get ready for the game.
We generally have around 4 different costumes, different shoes, and different poms to change it up each quarter of the game.
Before the game starts we are always out in the arena getting to know our fans, signing posters, and taking photos.
During the game we are always moving around - whether we’re on the court, the sidelines, or the bleachers bringing energy into the stands.
We typically have 1-2 routines that we perform center court.
We always have set formations and routines for timeouts or other in-game breaks.
We do a lot of in-game hype on top of our performances and sidelines, getting the crowd up and moving, throwing tee shirts and prizes, doing in-game promotional events.
At the end of the game we always go center court and cheer on the team - win or lose.
Off of the court
As NBA dancers we are not only representations of our teams, organization, and the legacy of our dance team on the court - but every day in between.
Dancers chosen to be on this team are multifaceted - having full time careers, attending school full time, and are all around women and men to look up to. We are constantly making sure that we represent the values of our teams on or off the clock.
The Relationships
You don’t get to see the strong relationships that have been built between the dancers on these teams - but it creates a lifelong bond between each of us. You truly do meet some of your best friends that you get to share the most incredibel expereinces of your life with.
Not only do you get to connect over common passions and meet some of your greatest friends, but you have coaches that:
Hold you accountable
Become your role models and mentors
Inspire you every day.