Now auditioning…

“Since Brittney won’t come out of retirement we had to make her a judge,” said Brandii McCoy, the director and choreographer of the Bobcats dance team before the start of the first round of auditions for the Lady Cats.

And coming from her, I took that as the biggest compliment – and perhaps the biggest honor to be invited to judge her auditions. I, like, idolize this woman in terms of dancing.

I only wish we did her style of choreography on the Panthers field. And I wish I had the honor of dancing for Brandii. But in all honesty, I probably couldn’t even make her team.

Anyway…. The other guest judges included Jon Wilson from FOX, Ira Cronin from WCNC, Tim Caputo and Bill Voth from WSOC and T-Bone from WFNZ.

As for the girls, there were 150-some-odd girls (some literally odd). But overall, it was not an easy job narrowing down the talent. There were old TopCats, a YMCA hip-hop instructor, a go-go dancer, a girl with a pad hanging out of her briefs, a girl that looked just like Rhianna (but couldn’t dance…bless her heart*), a girl that vomited, Lady Cats vets and a Man Cat.

For the first round they did a quick routine that they had to quickly learn to Pussycat Doll’s “When I Grow Up.” (I will have that song in my head for the rest of my life). I personally have a hard time retaining choreography without retention, so I went easy on the dancers. I judged on showmanship and potential – and the girls that just freestyled and looked like they were having fun.

For the first round of judging, filling out the score sheet was like dating – check yes-or-no.

But what made it hard was the fact they announced the girls that made it to the second round right then and there, as they were standing in front of us. Every time they read off numbers I immediately looked down at my phone to text the other judges back and forth. Anything to not make eye contact. I actually feel bad for Paula Abdul now. I didn’t realize how big of a responsibility it would be to contribute to determining whether or not someone’s dream came true or not.

I remember when I was on the other side of the judge’s table. For the first time in my life I danced, not to have fun, but to perform for a panel of judges to whom I was only a number. It was as if it was my goal in life to impress complete strangers within the two minutes I had in front of them. Yet, I barely had any make-up on, was wearing a football jersey and tennis shoes (as opposed to dance shoes), and had to learn how to do a pirouette in a matter of minutes. I remember sitting there waiting to hear if I made it past the next round wishing I could be a fly on the wall and listen to the deliberation. Perhaps why I jumped on the opportunity to be on the other side of the table. I wanted to be like the judge that saw potential in a clueless rookie and transform her into a professional cheerleader.

The second round of scoring felt like I was taking a test. Or grading one rather. Bill Voth was even trying to cheat off me. Just kidding.

The arena had a club like atmosphere with DJ Arthur from HOM on the wheels, and the jumbotron acting as a massive disco ball. I kinda wanted to get down there and dance myself….but for fun.

They narrowed it down to 32 girls who will go through a boot camp and battle to make the final cut.

There will be a web vote to follow on the Bobcat’s website. Now, you can be the judge.

*Disclaimer: by saying, “bless her heart” I am void of all accusation of insulting… cause we’re in the south.

This article appears in Aug 13-19, 2008.