"Promotial Team"
The Tri-City Americans announced today that they will be holding open auditions for their new promotional dance team for the upcoming 2011-2012 season.
Auditions will be held on Friday, August 5 at the Toyota Center, located at 7000 West Grandridge Blvd in Kennewick, starting at 6:00 PM. All interested candidates must be 18 years of age or older and must bring a completed registration form and a headshot with them to the audition. The audition will consist of an interview followed by a brief dance exhibition. Registration forms can be downloaded below, or by stopping by the Americans’ offices located inside the Toyota Center.
Audition Requirements:
- Must be 18 years of age or older
- Bring a headshot (headshots do not need to be professional)
- Bring a dance resume
o Dance resume should consist of previous and/or present dance experience
o Any workshops, classes, teams, conventions or skills pertaining to cheerleading or dance should be included as well
- Performance-ready hair and make-up is suggested
- Wear a form-fitting half dance or sport top and boy shorts or briefs
- Dance or tennis/athletic shoes are required
- Dancers should have no visible tattoos or piercings other than in their ears
Promotional Team Expectations:
If you are selected to be a member of the Americans’ dance team for the 2011-12 season, you will be expected to attend ALL practices, scheduled games and mandatory Tri-City Americans events. Promotional Team duties will also include community events and scheduled appearances.
For questions or more information on the audition process, please contact Bobbi Buttars at 509.551.2242 or by e-mail at bibuttars@hotmail.com. (Americans)
I'm all for pumping up the fans and getting the crowd into it and creating atmosphere, but I'm torn as to whether this is the way to do it. On one hand I think it's gimmicky, hypersexualized (to steal from Spokant), and completely unnecessary in a hockey rink. It shows women as sex objects, prancing around in skimpy outfits for no discernible reason. I think it's a bad promotional tool for families, as it reinforces to young girls that they should strive to be beautiful and sexy and flashy and reinforces to young boys that they are to fantasize about such objectification.
On the other hand if ladies want to parade themselves around like some cheap gimmick, go for it. But don't wonder why people mock you. Don't wonder why people look at you like a low-rent hooker. Because they kind of are, right? Getting paid to entertain, that's kinda whore-ish. I've gone off track of this being the other hand, haven't I? I just find it hard to believe these women WON'T be Ice Girls or cheerleaders--just look at the audition requirements--performance-ready hair and makeup, form-fitting half dance top. C'mon, it doesn't take a rocket surgeon to connect the dots.
I'm not going all crazy and announcing I'm not renewing my season tickets or anything (take a look at the outrage on the Ams Facebook page), I'll reserve final judgement till I see the actual product. In all my years as a fan the Americans have always been a top-notch organization who is committed to providing a quality product on the ice and a large amount of community involvement. I hope they aren't going away from that with something cheap and gimmicky.
From the Twitter today, some of my favorites:
- @wireless_peon: constructive idea, tri needs replay, not cheerleaders.
- @spokant: "How dare you women find these young men attractive! Now move, I can't see that 18 year old's tits shaking."
- @RL: I'm all for some other dance group coming to perform at intermission as entertainment, one that isn't part of the organization
- @RL: This is not the time (if ever) to get "dancers", how about nice apparel first?
- @Champ: Clearly they don't make as much money on us female fans and don't mind offending us. They'll never admit that the ice dancers are supposed to be sexy. It just seems so DESPERATE.
- @Masheen: Say what you will, but it'll beat the hell out of "titanic trike races"!
Those are just a couple. It's also quite evident from Twitter and Facebook that this "debate" is generally divided down gender lines. WEIRD. It doesn't surprise me, I just hate the double standard (see Spokant's tweet up there).
The hilarity continued on the Twitter, we worked on coming up with names. Portland has the Rosebuds, we could have:
- Lady Liberties
- Daddy Issue Dancers
- Cow Belles
- Bobby's Bitches
Just some ideas we tossed around. Got any other ideas?
25 comments:
"rocket surgeon" LOL
LOL Mason
I think you hit the nail on the head regarding the big NO for dancers...lets get a scoreboard that works & a replay board. The diff between hunky guys on the ice & hot girls on the ice is the 10 lbs of gear and limmited ass shaking that the hunks do vs the - lbs of clothing and the 10 lbs of makeup & the MASSIVE ass shaking the girls do.
Why can't they have tattoos or piercings? Because they would be OFFENSIVE? Because it's a FAMILY SETTING? WTF, Ams... that is so ridiculously hypocritical.
I would rather spend my $$ on going to spokane and taking abuse from 10,000 sh*t flinging apes to watch the boys than sit in our own barn and watch "dancers" "cheerleaders" aka girls who show alot of T&A to get attention.
I was trying to decide if I'd get a season ticket this year, and now I'm sure I won't. I'm embarrassed enough when fans of other teams see the "Cotton-Eyed Joe" routine, now I'm mortified.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.
I can't stand when the Fever sluts show up on the ice for Deal or No Deal. Why do that Ams need their own troop of them? ARGH!
I want to watch a hockey game, not be transported back to high school pep rallies.
and unlike a twitter comment, i'd rather see a titanic trike race than a dance team
I'll keep this short and sweet. I see no problem with it. I've seen video of Portland's Rosebuds and thought it was tastefully done. As far as objectifying women, what about that wonderful picture that all the ladies were buying this last season with the boys not wearing shirts etc. I don't appreciate this double standard. Let's judge after we see the finished product.
No, Jeremiah, you wouldn't appreciate the double standard because you are male. Being a man and claiming sexism is like a white person claiming racism.
This move by the Americans organization is clearly meant to draw in more male fans and the female fans are apparently unimportant enough to risk offending. If this was just a dance team, there would be no reason for the girls auditioning to show up half-dressed.
It's cheap, gimmicky, tacky, unnecessary and yes, sexist.
Thank you spokant. People had the choice if they wanted to buy a poster of the guys or not, this doesnt give those of us a choice when it comes to the dancers. I keep trying to make the point on FB that its not the idea of dance entertainment its the requirements they have..Pretty, lots of make up, no icky stuff like OH MY GOD a tattoo, and well skinny if you can wear a bra & panties. its discriminating against the girls who can bust a move but maybe don't wear a size 1 & maybe aren't as "pretty" as they require!its so sad!!!
I can't feel sexism, that's a load of crap. As far as white people not being able to feel that they are receiving racism, that's a load too. Everyone acts like men don't get held to standards as well. We can no longer complain about being objectified? Pleas tie my hands up a little more. Do I deny that there is sexism affecting women, no. But to say that a white male can't suffer under sexism or racism is an ignorant statement. In that statement, you just proved the double standard is in place. It's a problem across the board, you probably think men don't suffer from self esteem issues and eating disorders too. To deny that men aren't flooded with images of what they should look like is wrong. I've seen the Abercrombie and Fitch models. I was at the second Twilight movie opening night, and the second Taylor Laughtner *spelling* took his shirt off, there was an audible sound by every woman. I felt uncomfortable because I am not a skinny fit man. As far as I'm concerned the only difference is that I can't complain about that. That's not equality, that's over the top feminism. We need equality across the board, not just for the few.
And one last thing, I know that many of the female members and followers of this blog participated in the objectification of the male players. To complain about something like this makes you come across as a hypocrite. If you have such a problem with the dance team, then don't go to the games. I didn't stop going when they put out that photo, and I was offended by it. We all make choices, you want to stop the cycle, then stop promoting it. I spent time studying advertising, and sex sells, across the board it sells. Gay, straight, men, women, they all buy into it. That's why even though I was offended by the photo, I "manned up" and took it. Just one more example of males receiving sexism. And I guarantee everyone reading this has used a phrase like that in their life. I apologize DS for this rant, but this is something that is a real social issue, and it really got to me.
If these girls showed up in hockey equipment and proceeded to do a square dance and men found that arousing, I wouldn't give a shit. The fact is they want the women half-dressed and made up. They want these women to gyrate around on the ice and there is absolutely nothing innocent about it. I don't care if you objectify those women, they are asking for it by participating in that junk. The sexism comes from whatever marketing team decided this was a good idea. It caters to male fans and insults female fans. That is sexism. It implies that male fans are more important than female fans. That is sexism.
Cry me a river about being a man and sexism. Seriously, you can make whatever argument you want, but until you are a women you don't know. You just don't know. Don't claim to know because you don't. You don't see politicians trying to control your body. You don't see men making less money than women for doing the exact same job. You don't see men held to the same impossible standards as women when it comes to trying to balance a career and a family. Insurance companies have JUST started covering birth control for women, but they covered Viagra from day one. You don't see men as rape victims being told "they asked for it" by dressing a certain way. In fact, do you personally know a single man who has ever been touched inappropriately, against his will, by a woman? You can say I am reinforcing the double standard or whatever you want. I don't care because I have a vagina and you don't.
For every shirtless Taylor Lautner scene, there are FIVE EFFING MILLION scenes of women behaving provocatively. Women are still considered sluts if they sleep with multiple men while men are considered heroes. There are still 392482390842 female strip joints to every 1 male strip joint. Over the top feminism? Bull. shit.
Yeah, you are probably correct that we do objectify the guys. But you know what else? We actually do care about them. We pour hundreds of hours and hundreds of dollars into their scrapbooks. We enjoy talking to them and hearing about their lives. We are happy to see them succeed and we hurt for them when they don't. When you can gather a group of guys who can say the same thing about these ice girls, we'll call it even.
Also, I'm sorry that you were in a situation where women finding a man sexually attractive made you uncomfortable. But don't worry, you'll get used to it. We certainly have.
I'm a Chiefs fan that some of you know as CLASSLESS. No i wasnt drunk when I got tossed during a playoff game last year and flipped off the entire crowd. There was a lot more to the incident than you guys saw.
I'm going to boo when they bring these girls out but im not booing the girls themselves but the idea of having a dance team. Those of us in Spokane are having a field day with this but we fear Mr. Brett might do this as well.
It's not about having a dance team it's about plugging stuff and getting sponsorship dollars.
Far as the owner of this blog having a bad time in Spokane I'll buy you a ticket to opening night if you come up here. You can sit next to a fellow TC fan Nicole. She lost a bet with me and has to wear a Chiefs jersey, cheer on the chiefs the entire game and have that photo of her in the jersey as her facebook profile pic for a week.
I will say that the same arguments were heard in Portland prior to the Rosebuds arrival...now, the only people that comment on them come from outside the Portland market.
The amount of time they spend on the ice performing is minimal and (at least in Portland) they are not standing in the way while the game is going on.
Just my perspective...
Andy Kemper
What spokant said. Especially:
"This move by the Americans organization is clearly meant to draw in more male fans and the female fans are apparently unimportant enough to risk offending."
And:
"The sexism comes from whatever marketing team decided this was a good idea. It caters to male fans and insults female fans. That is sexism. It implies that male fans are more important than female fans."
@crow thanks but I'll pass
@Andy You're right, those of us outside the market comment--and laugh. I don't want "outsiders" laughing at anything related to our organization. Or "insiders" for that matter. I've seen the Rosebuds and you're right, their on-ice time is minimal, but so are their outfits. Sure, they don't get in the way, but I don't think that's the big complaint here. if it was, I take bigger issue with our mascot being in the way more often than not.
Dave if they play Cotton Eye Joe while those girls are on the ice I will lose my freaking mind. It's going to be a battle of who is wearing less clothes between the dancers and the male fans in the audience.
Btw are you coming to the Everett preseason tourney?
I'm sure they'll have a whole CEJ dance routine. Ugh.
no, not planning on going to Everett
The blog is limiting me to 4096 characters. Word says I have 4039...
Part 1 of 2
@Jeremiah - I both agree and disagree with your initial statement. Yes, there is a double standard, especially when you bring up the Fire and Ice photo. However, the photo was something that you chose to buy or not to buy. It was not paraded around in front of the entire arena, every game, for an entire season.
As far as judging AFTER seeing the final product, I don't agree with that. I've seen dance teams and cheer leading squads...I never saw the point. I never saw how girls jumping(skating?) around promoted a sport or somehow spurned the team on to victory. I still don't, so I have spoken against the "Promotional Team" both here and on facebook. I don't want to wait for the finished product. I want to watch (and pay for) a hockey game, and just a hockey game.
and yes, sex sells. The numbers speak. I may not agree with it or like it, but I can't argue with the numbers
Why were you at a Twilight movie? That's the one part of your posts that I'm having the most trouble with...(This statement comes with heavy sarcasm and a joking nature. But seriously, Twilight?)
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@Spokant - you are correct. It is a tactic to draw in more male fans. Ams season ticket sales are up, but the seats are still empty. I also agree that it's cheap, gimmiky, and tacky, hence, I don't like it either. Apparently, the Ams marketing team hasn't read the statistics stating that an increasing number of women are the "bread winner" because it was mostly male-dominated industries that took major hits in the recession. I don't know if it's the best time to alienate the female ticket holders. On the other side, it seems to me that men that buy most of the beer, and the dads with kids (as opposed to moms with kids) buy most of the food.
If you *are* making less money than an equally-qualified, equally-experienced male for doing the EXACT same job, you need to talk to HR. right. now. That is bull shit and went out years ago. It can also incur legal action.
I do think you are too harsh on Jeremiah. Men can be raped. Men experience sexism, and white people experience racism. Have you ever looked to see how many scholarship opportunities exist for white men? It's pretty limited. My classmates had TERRIBLE times finding scholarships that they qualified for, and Andy is having the same problems now. For that matter, I was limited because I'm white. As a pasty white person, there have been quite a few situations where I have been uncomfortable because I was the only, or one of very few, white people. As a native of southern California, being white put me in the minority. It happens. Quite a lot, actually.
Part 2 of 2
@DS - when was the last time a blog entry sparked this much debate?
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@afterTheWhistle - interesting to know.
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@-everyone-wanting-improvements-to-the-arena - hell YES! a replay board would be FABULOUS. Ice that remains ice for the whole game would also be kinda nice. Score boards that function every weekend! Not gonna happen. Two completely different budgets.
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My final 2 cents:
I have no real control over whether or not they go through with implementing the "Promotional Team". IF they do, they had better be in their seats when the puck is in play. I'm also hoping that their "promo activities" will be limited to the ice during intermissions. I usually walk the concourse, so I should be able to miss the "action". I will not "boo" them. I may remain silent. I may ignore them. But I will not be Classless. It truly pissed me off when a player from the opposing team wins one of the 3 stars, and he gets booed. He did nothing wrong. He played the sport that he was "hired" to play, and did it well. If I think the player had a great game, I applaud. If I have an issue with the player, I remain silent. I will not boo a child/teenager/young adult.
Marissa - I never said men couldn't be raped. I said they don't get told they "asked for it" by dressing a certain way.
Statistically, women are still being paid less than men. Google it. It's true.
I think any racism a white person experiences is 1/1823748327 what a person of a different race experiences. I think the same is true of being male and experiencing sexism. Yes, it happens, but infrequently and on such a miniscule level in comparison. White privilege isn't just a talking point, it's a reality. The reason there are not as many scholarships available specifically for white people is because we are already more likely to receive ones based on merit. People of different races are more likely to live in poverty, more likely have to work a job after school and have fewer hours to study, more likely to struggle due to English being their second language, more likely to drop out, the statistics go on and on. And by the way, I bet those minorities would kill to be able to afford season tickets to hockey.
Sorry for being harsh, this is just something that makes me angry on so many levels.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/26/wealth-gap-whites-minorities_n_909465.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000009
Seriously.
I think those of you who are having issue w/ the dance team should call the office. I emailed DS about the response I got when I called & asked about the attire, and the purpose. It didnt take away all of the sting, but it did calm my nerves a bit to understand more about it. I think some of the AMS office are oblivious to what the fans are thinking. CALL and make a complaint. I think it will hit home if you make them hear you.
@Marissa - When I spoke to Amy in the AMS office she informed it was only for selected ( about 9 i think) Saturday games One is the home opener & the LAST game of the season vs Spokane go figure) and they WILL be at the doors upon entry to hand out promo stuff. its only 6 girls and they are dressed in YOGA pants and a midriff baring long sleeved shirt.She assured me that they wanted to keep it fam friendly and it was only a "test" to see how it goes over. I told her to take a look at FB & twitter and she would see how it was going over.Supposedly there is a meeting today regarding the situation and she was going to bring up several topics about the fans & the dance team conflicts.
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