The Dallas Mavericks Dancers held their auditions at the American Airlines Center followed by training camp at the Verandah Club at the Hilton Anatole.
The team was officially announced at the end of the final night of training camp the final roster included five rookies.
Hanna is one of the new members of the Dallas Mavericks Dancers and she joined us after making the team to discuss her journey to becoming a member of the Mavs Dancers.
See Photos of HANNA in the Slideshow below:
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Photos by Dominic Ceraldi
PDC: Talk about your dance background.
HANNA: I started studio training in middle school but mostly did cheerleading. In high school I started training heavily in studio dancing to prepare for my college’s cheer and dance team auditions and then I tried out for cheerleading in college at Oregon State. I traveled with Oregon State University’s Cheerleading and Dance team and was the captain for a year and during that time, I came to Dallas with the NCAA basketball tournament and we performed at the American Airlines Center. I absolutely fell in love with everything about Dallas. I knew once I graduated that this is where I wanted to live. I graduated a term early so that I could get down here and start my life.
PDC: Did you immediately look for a dance team to audition for when you moved to the Dallas area?
HANNA: Even when I was in Oregon, I knew that the Dallas Mavericks Dancers was the ultimate dance goal. I tried out for the Mavs Dancers last year and made it to finals, so I took that as steam to keep going to learn more and I made the Allen Americans Ice Angels this past year. All season I kept in mind that I wanted to prepare for the Mavs Dancers and having Stephanie (Allen Americans Ice Angels director Stephanie DiBiase), she’s an absolutely amazing person in general and everything she does prepares you for whatever you want to do and she is super supportive of girls wanting to follow their dreams. Coming from college where it was more cheerleading, Stephanie really taught me how to be a professional dancer.
PDC: What did you do to get ready for the Mavs Dancers auditions?
HANNA: I took as many dance classes as possible including Whitney Foster’s classes on Wednesdays. Those really helped.
PDC: Leading up to auditions at American Airlines Center, what were your emotions like?
HANNA: I think that I wanted it so bad this year because I knew what it was like to not make it and that made me want it that much more. That probably put more pressure on it and made it even scarier than last year when I went into it blind as opposed to knowing everything like this year.
PDC: What’s it like being out there at auditions looking up at the judges?
HANNA: Honestly, because I had last year’s experience, I just really wanted to do everything I could to prove to the judges that I grew from last year’s audition. I tried to go out there and have fun and show Mallory (Dallas Mavericks Dancers director Mallory Mills) that I was a performer and I had worked hard over the past year.
PDC: So you advance through the weekend, did you allow yourself to be happy about making it to training camp or did you see it as just another step to the ultimate goal?
HANNA: I think after making finals last year, I was very happy and very grateful to progress to the next step, but at the same time, I had made it to training camp and didn’t want to stop there.
PDC: Describe what training camp is really like.
HANNA: I think it was actually really fun because you get to know more of the girls that auditioned. At the actual audition, there’s so much going on and you’re trying to prove yourself to the judges where as at training camp, we all got there super early and got to know one another which was really fun. Then it would get scary when we would go back into the small groups and perform in different groups and there was a lot of waiting.
PDC: Fast forward to Thursday night, talk about what it was like when you found out that you had made the Dallas Mavericks Dancers.
HANNA: I was so nervous to go outside and open my envelope. I remember the letter we received saying we had made it training camp said “Congratulations” really big at the top and when I opened this one and didn’t see anything, I thought I didn’t make it. When I actually read the letter, the first thing it said was “Congratulations” so I immediately started crying and I ran back inside with Hannah. It was a great feeling.
PDC: Now that you have made the team, what are you most looking forward to this season with the Mavs Dancers?
HANNA: Being back out on the court at American Airlines Center and getting to dance at the games. It’s just awesome because this really was one of my biggest dreams in life and to accomplish it, sometimes I have to ask myself “is this my life right now?”
The 2018-19 Dallas Mavericks Dancers are:
VETERANS: Ashley, Katelyn, Janae, Ally, Maggie, Taylor H., Tristen, Julia, Tori, Jenifer, Lisa, Janie, Alise, Sheridan, Aliyah
ROOKIES: Hanna, Hannah, Taylor N., Riley and Amanda.
For more photos and videos from the Dallas Mavericks Dancers, visit HERE
See PHOTOS from the Dallas Mavericks Dancers Team Announcement in the GALLERY below:
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