As the Knicks reporter, it’s my job to cover the Knicks at every single home game. Keep in mind, just like you, I was (okay still am) a Knicks fan. This is a basketball city - from the concrete at Rucker Park, to the theatre lighting of Madison Square Garden.

And New York is also the epicenter of entertainment, from the bright lights of Broadway to the glare of the media capital of the world. For 41 nights a season (more this coming season), these elements merge to create a fire storm which is the Knicks Experience. Thunderous crowds applauding NBA Basketball and all that follows:  celebrity row, die hard fanatics, awards ceremonies (see Knicks Legends Night), and entertainment … as in the Knicks City Dancers.

Following my assignment at NBA Summer League, I decided to drop the rock and put on the dancing shoes. After all, I’m not a product of AAU basketball, but someone who took dance lessons for 16 years. While Saturday afternoons were dedicated to watching college football with my dad, the other six days (and many early Saturday afternoons) I competed in track & field, swimming, gymnastics, dance and cheerleading. So when I was asked to be a guest judge for this year’s Knicks City Dancers Auditions, I was clearly qualified.

Saturday at Madison Square Garden, over 400 young women were on hand for an open casting call. That group was then narrowed down to thirty-five. The finalists took their talents (ugh, I have to stop saying that. i.e. LeDrama-Boy) to Radio City Music Hall for the Knicks City Dancers (KCD) training camp. 

On Monday, those 35 talented ladies went head-to-head with 15 members of last season’s KCD team, who also had to try out to stay on the squad. Fifty female athletes with rhythm, strength, talent, beauty and perfect bodies all in one room (and there I was, asking myself, "Why did I eat those two cookies this afternoon?")

The fifty would soon be cut down to 30! Those 30moved on to three intense days of training, dancing and constant judging by the Knicks Director of Entertainment Marketing, Michelle Harris and the Knicks Administrator of Entertainment and Dance Teams, Danielle Mimnaugh, both former KCDs! Everyone gathered in at one of the large rehearsal rooms at Radio City. A perfect venue for such an iconic element of the Knicks' experience.

Chris Freer, an agent at Clear Talent Group, and I were guest judges along side the experts from the Knicks Event Presentation staff. Thank goodness I had only a small percentage of power or there would be a team of thirty dancers this season!

The most amazing part was watching the finalists learn a dance combination by famed choreographer Gil Duldulao, who has worked with Janet, J-Lo, Christina, and Tina Turner. Big time! His moves were fluid, sharp, strong, sexy, and challenging. Whoever could hang lasted until the next day. They did the combination to “Feel it” by The Tamperer. The bass was pumping!

When it came down to eliminations, there were definitely two or three ladies I thought should have moved on, but not according to the experts, who defended their decision to me. I totally got it!  You really have to have the ENTIRE package, and that includes chemistry with the other dancers on the floor. If you can’t connect with your teammates, then how could you connect with 20,000 strangers in the seats? 

Also, I was sitting next to Gil! I mean, how cool is that? I was sitting next to and chatting with J-Lo and Janet’s choreographer! 

Okay, I digress. 

Gil challenged me to pick out the ladies who could execute the choreography the best. Maybe someone else had great rhythm, or freestyle moves, or a gorgeous body - but it’s about the dance. Executing the moves, the technique, and then performing it to entertain the audience. Sure, you want to stand out as an individual to get the judges attention, and lots of chicas did! But the focus was on who is the best at technique, clean with their moves, yet someone that draws your eyes towards her.

No one's safe in this audition. If there were better dancers on the floor than someone who was on the team last year, it didn't matter. Last year's girl was going home.

As the girls were eliminated, some took it hard. Some tears; some snarls. Hey, you need a thick skin in NYC! And as Michelle Harris so eloquently put it during these auditions, “It’s not show-friends, it’s show BUSINESS!”

POW!

After having so much fun and being inspired to get back into yoga (and stop eating cookies), Michelle and Danielle invited me back on Wednesday to join the dancers in their boot camp. Yikes! But I thought, "Okay, I danced for 16 years, have been weight training since, ran two marathons in the last two years, why not?" 

Yeah, right.

After two intense days of dancing and more eliminations inside the rehearsal studio at Radio City Music Hall, I returned on Wednesday. More dancers were eliminated, including a dancer from last year’s team. But my three favorites from the new group of gals trying out were still there. I was excited, because I knew I could spot talent when I saw it!

I took my spot in the back of the group. I would be the only one in a full length shirt and long pants. Come on! I’m 13-to-15 years older than most of these ladies!!!! Well, after about 5 minutes of just warming up, I was DRENCHED in sweat and really wishing I had done the sports bra and shorts thing too. 

I have been training with the P90X system at home. Uh, this KILLS it!  KILLS it! I sweat more in this one-hour boot camp than I did running 26.2 miles through the five boroughs. This is serious! And now I know why the KCD look the way they do - they WORK for it!

Lunges, squats, short sprints, jumping jacks, some crazy fireman climbing move, squat jumps, leg raises, planks, switching your arms in planks, walking lunges, one legged lunges, lunges, lunges, lunges, crunches, balance-y things, more jumping jacks, squat jumps, high knees, kicks. I’m sweating just typing about it. 

Personal trainer Tyler Woodman from Club H Fitness in Hoboken was running the show. He told me the key to this workout, which is designed specifically for the dancers, is to do continued fitness through the hour-long workout. In between the exercises, the dancers performed their dance routines they learned during the auditions. 

This is where I took a water break and stretched. Only for about a minute max, but this was the time for the dancers to challenge their mindset and still perform the routine perfectly despite being tired from the exercises. Leg work and high heart rate are the focus in this workout. And all I could say was, “Holy Quads!. 

What a great experience to see and participate in what these women go through to bring you those rhythmic, exciting routines on the Garden floor. After the crazy boot camp class, the dancers remained in the rehearsal hall for a few more performances and the final cut. As someone who has tried out for cheerleading teams and dance squads, I ran out of there. No thanks. I would feel so bad for the girls eliminated.

Sure enough, I ran into a dancer who was trying out for the KCD for the first time in the ladies room. I wished her good luck as she showed me the bruises on her legs from all of the jumps and floor work in the combinations. She was getting choked up when she told me she was so nervous about the final cuts because this meant so much to her. She said she was so emotionally spent from this intense week. My heart went out to her. 

On Friday night at The Empire Hotel, the 2010-11 Knicks City Dancers will be introduced to New York, to the NBA, and to the World. Twenty dancers will perform together as a team for the first time. I’ll be there as well - maybe I’ll skip the blog and just post picks. Now THAT’s giving fans the full Knicks experience.

The next time the Knicks City Dancers run onto the Garden floor, or you see them at a Garden of Dreams event or performing on Good Morning America or “Regis and Kelly”, remember, you are watching the best dance team in the NBA.  

Some will argue the Laker Girls. I say they were the pioneers, and yes, they are SPECTACULAR. But the Knicks dancers have created their own personality, unique from LA or Miami or Chicago (who also have fantastic teams.) 

The KCD represent NYC. They move, communicate, and ooze the Big Apple!  And they are so darn gorgeous and talented. Watch it in their eyes next time. 

Seriously, it’s not all in the hips!

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