So You Wanna be an Eagles Cheerleader?

Ahh, the Eagles Pre-Audition workshop is over. Two days later and I'm still feeling the ache in my abs. Thanks, Sweat.

My friend and I get to the Linc circa 5:30pm. We walk into what could be a Hannah Montana album signing. At the old age of 24, we're some of the oldest people there. We scan our competition and make a few notes: lots of orange tan, dark eyeliner, and Victoria's Secret PINK clothing line. In the mad dash between work-home-South Philly, the zip up hoodie I manage to grab is my Philadelphia Eagles hoodie. Am I that girl? You know, the one who wears the t-shirt of the band she loves to their own concert? Yes, of course you love the Eagles, we ALL love the Eagles, I hear them all whisper in my head. This thing hasn't even started and I'm ready to turn around and run all the way up Broad Street back to the comfort of my gallon of ice cream.

The current squad arrives in small groups and I'm ecstatic to find that a lot of them are pretty short. (I clock in at a whopping 5'1" and my own father has told me that he thinks I need to grow another foot to have any sort of chance.) We get through registration and are split into groups for different rotations.

First rotation: Fitness
Like I said, Sweat came with a handful of personal trainers who kicked our butts with squats, push-ups, sit-ups, isolations, and everything else under the sun. The girl behind me cursed the owner of Sweat the entire time. Loudly. He got a real kick out of it and pushed us all harder while laughing. A maniacal fitness man, really. Somehow, those hip hop classes I've been taking at Koresh make the half hour boot camp somewhat bearable.

Second rotation: Hair & Make Up
The peeps from Salon L'Etoile made their consultants available to do their thing. I get mildly berated for never having picked up an eyeliner pen in my entire life. The woman is literally appalled. She's even more appalled that I've gone a quarter-century without having done so. I tell her that I have been wearing glasses for over 15 years and she retorts back, "But you still have eyes!" The horror! She sends me away with one tidbit of advice to get my eyebrows waxed by an American, not "one of those shitty Asian places." Yikes.

Third rotation: Choreography
Some of the current squad does a little dance and then teaches it to us. It's short—three eight-counts—but there's this weird pirouette into a skip into a bowling arm that I can't quite get down. NBC catches some of my unflattering flailing on film. Thanks, NBC! I'm still waiting for someone on the comments page to say, "who's that uncoordinated girl at 1:24?"

Fourth rotation: Mock Audition
At this point, the group treks to the audition space where we get to practice our dance in front of current girls on the squad and the Director of Cheerleading, Barbara Zaun. Terrifying, really. We practice a few times, I majorly flub a few times. The aftermath of the flub is caught on film again (really, thanks, NBC!). The best part about this rotation is that the room is set-up exactly how it will be one month from now. I might still flub, but at least it will be a familiar flub.

Fifth rotation: Q&A
This was essentially a panel of of cheerleaders from the current squad answering questions. Two of the best questions were:

"So, do you guys, like, hang out with the players, or is that, like, really a rule?"
and
"What celebrities have you guys met?"

No one got told to drop 20 pounds or spend eight hours a day on the Bowflex. There were no cat fights that left hair extensions on the floor. There are still jitters and I can't pirouette into a bowling follow-through motion, but I'll be back in a month rah-rahing my butt off. Open Call is open only to contestants, as are the semi-final rounds. Final auditions, however, are open to the public.

For more photos and video of the event, check out the Eagles website and NBC10.

Eagles Cheerleaders 2009 Open Call Auditions
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Registration begins at 10:00AM
Lincoln Financial Field, SCA Club Lounge (Pattison Avenue and Darrien Street)

Cheerleaders Final Audition Show
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Prince Music Theater
7:30 PM
Check for tickets here.

Image Credit: Flickr user uwdigitalcollections