sleepyjean

I believe this is because K&J realized through those experiences that more often than not, girls that get a break don't work out well. They seem to have made a conscious decision to cut their losses early. She didn't say that to Selina on camera. Which makes me think they say it to plenty of people, we just don't see it all the time. It would make sense for K&J to encourage almost everyone to return, except for the ones they know for sure will never work. After all, someone who was weaker in this year's class may be stronger when compared to the next year's class. If I recall correctly from the spoilers thread, Taylor put an entire year of effort into preparing for this year's auditions. I think she did manage to improve her kicks from where they were a year ago, but she just doesn't have the physical ability to get them any higher. Just as Lacey and Kat are on the "freakishly loose" end of normal, Taylor is on the much tighter end of normal. She can spend her whole life stretching and never get there. When I was on dance team, when we took a new dance out to the field, the first thing we'd do is walk all the way through the music, without doing the choreo, just to establish our marks with the counts. We'd do that several times until everyone was hitting their marks cleanly, then we'd add the choreography. I'm surprised the DCC don't do this, so new girls get some practice with using their peripheral vision to keep one eye on the girls next to them and one eye on the yard lines and hash marks. Then again, maybe they do, and we just don't see it. Or maybe they're just overwhelmed, because it really isn't that hard to understand that the ball of your foot needs to hit the line on 8. There's something about Courtney I just don't "get." She's pretty, seems nice, has power. But she was never one of my favorites. Maybe because there was just too much of her in the early episodes. I"m having the same problem with Amy Trader. I have an instinctive dislike for anyone I feel the show is trying to shove down my throat. I was really distracted by Courtney's roots last night. Don't they have the squad photo soon? Do they wait until the last minute to touch up the hair? Another one I don't get is Claire. Other than laying on the floor, I don't think we've seen much of her. I don't see anything especially captivating there.

So...Merline doesn't know "muslin" and Kelly doesn't know paillettes. Where did these "designers" come from? I can't remember their backgrounds. Are they both self-taught? In my opinion, Laurie's was the hands-down worst. It looked amateurish and messy and walked horribly. Joseph's was better. I think they booted him mostly because if his track record. There was no special design to that. It was a circle skirt, which is one of the easiest things to make. Much easier than an a line skirt. And remember all of the "merline is the most annoying person on earth" storyline from the first episode? Where'd that go? I will admit, every time I see her in one of those dippy hats of hers, and I've counted five different ones so far, I immediately think "she left her sewing kit at home so she could bring these hats." Actually, that's not true. My first thought is to wonder how she keeps them perched on the back of her head like that. And I am beginning to wonder if she has a bald spot.

Oh c'mon, it could be (and has been) worse. 20 years ago they wore em OVER their leggings/bike shorts.

What happened to what her name who won last season? Is she still there? And that other girl who who got the job at the warehouse or the furniture store or wheverever DVF put her.

Ditto for Jela. The three of them obviously think of this show as a big career move. They figure they just need to show up, look as hot and/or naked as possible and grab as much attention as they can, and Hollywood will beat a path to their door. I suppose if all you aspire to be is a D-list reality show star, this is as good an approach as any. It worked for Natalie, who isn't half as attractive as these three. But if you're looking for a legit career as a model or actress, it seems counterproductive to go on a show where the cast members are known to be generally rowdy, immature, inebriated, promiscuous, violent, and straight up dumb.Who is looking to hire that? I think Jela has this idea of being the bad girl who is just hot and confident and not any of those other things, but when casting agents see BGC on her resume, they're going to assume she was a mess like everyone else on the show. Which she is. I laughed out loud in whatever episode it was where she was talking about being in Vogue and having her own tv show. Vogue isn't looking for a 25 year old with a booty and giant tattoos up the side of her body. The twins however, have positioned themselves perfectly to get even more of the vaguely soft porn photoshoots they've been doing for years. There's plenty more of that in their future.

Well, if you count shrinking the shorts and adding the belt as two different steps, that brings us to five. I looked at some old photo and they've changed the collar on the blouse. That's six. That's all I could come up with. ETA: They changed the belt buckle too, so I guess that's all seven!

I just found this study guide for the DCC 2015 auditions. I have no idea who made it or where it came from. I wonder if it is based on questions from past tests. There are the typical questions about football and the team and the team's history, but there are also some that are really obscure, like the date the DCC made-for-tv movie debuted in the 70s. It wouldn't even occur to me to look that up, let alone memorize it. I'd fail for sure! One of the questions is how many changes have been made to the uniform. The answer is seven. I only came up with four: making the stars detachable, adding crystals, doing that v-cut in the shorts in the 90s, and then changing the shorts back to the belted style. I wonder what the other changes are?

I just found this old video of an interview with Kelli during the 1996 DCC auditions. I think Kelli said it was a month long process (I was having a hard time paying attention to what she was saying. I was too busy trying to figure out if that was Shelly Bramhall in the black/dark blue leotard behind her.) But she never mentions training camp, so I wonder if it existed at that time, and if not, when it started. At the end of the video, there's a shot of Judy teaching choreo while wearing the infamous DCC "buckle bike-tard". Possibly the most hideous garment ever worn by the team. Classic! I have to say, Judy and Kelli both look very much like they did 19 years ago.

She probably figured the bigger the better. I would be surprised if Courtney wasn't wearing the "DCC recommended" blue bra from Victoria's Secret (there's a certain one they have, I think that's where it's from), so for Kelli to comment on extra padding makes me wonder if Courtney had inserted even more padding than what comes already built in. I'd be curious, for those who do have implants, how many got them specifically to improve their chances on the squad. There are quite a few girls who are pretty flat chested (as revealed by their swimsuit photos), and it doesn't seem to matter to Kelli. They just draw some cleavage on your photos and call it a day.

There are comments in some other threads about Kelli seeming "harder" this year. Every year, the gap between Kelli's age and the cheerleaders' age gets wider and wider. I wonder if she's just burnt out on dealing with young girls with more enthusiasm then sense or maturity. Especially in the first few weeks of camp before the girls truly understand how imperative it is that they get it together. Kelli has been director since the 90s, right? That's a lot of years of lame excuses, flakiness, boyfriend drama, cliques within the team, talking during rehearsal, and all the things girls in that age group go through. I'm sure the chapters and chapters of rules and instructions in that binder Kelli hands out are a direct result of years of girls doing stupid things. And even then, even when she takes the time to give them clothes to wear and spell out exactly which days to wear them on, some of them still get it wrong. I wonder if Kelli is just over it, and I wonder what she she would have really said if there hadn't been any cameras. I'm in my 30s and every year my company hires a batch of people in their early 20s. For the most part, they are great. But it seems like every year, more and more of them have no sense of what it is to have a real job in the real world. They oversleep, they zone out, they dress inappropriately, they're unprepared for meetings, they fiddle with their phones during training, they take loud and lengthy personal calls on company time, and have not one clue that any of this is wrong. Quite the opposite in fact. Many of them seem to think they are superstars at work. I find it totally exasperating and I'm not the one who actually has to manage them. I can't imagine having to deal with a dozen of those every summer, and Kelli doesn't strike me as a particularly patient person. For sure she seems have lost touch with what life is like at that age, and doesn't have much in the way of empathy. Ditto for Judy. It's like she can't be bothered. Her critiques seem to be vague and useless, and I have yet to see her actually dance or pull a dancer aside to show her how something is done or actually help her get better. Aside from Abby Lee Miller, she is the first "choreographer" I've ever seen who doesn't seem to dance, make dances, or teach her dances to other people. Kitty shows up dressed to dance and she physically participates in the rehearsal. Judy wears a dress and heels and sits in a chair. As if she is somehow "above" teaching.I don't get it. Is that normal? She seems over it too. I wonder if she has always been this way, or if she used to be more active and has slowed down with age. She does a little of it during auditions, but we never see it again.

Randomly looking at this photo. Gosh, they used to have so many more blondes.

I never really noticed before, probably because she always had her hair down, but she is looking older. She must be in her 60s. Even so, she shows a lot more pep than Judy, who is younger than her.

Thanks for posting that. That one isn't as thoughtfully composed as the other three. The others are all carefully symmetrical with everyone placed just so. This one seems rushed or something. And Kat seems a bit shrunken.

I don't see that at all. It's going to be many many years before Kelli is ready to give up her position. It is a huge part of her identity, and she enjoys the perceived power and prestige, and the paycheck. When she finally steps down, and I think that is a decade or more away, it will be in favor of someone "worthy," someone was an outstanding DCC for at least 4 years, someone who will make the team her #1 priority in life and basically dedicate her entire existence to it. I can't see Melissa as a candidate for that. She's got too many other things going on and doesn't think being a DCC is the most important thing that ever happened in her life. It will be interesting to see who will retire first, Kelli or Judy. My guess would be Judy.

Brown eyes would look natural. Blue or green would be striking. But grey is just kind of muddy looking on him.

Did anyone ever unearth the official group 3 photo?

I could've sworn I saw Sara Idziak (Gourley) sitting in the audience next to Mackenzie Swicegood before the show. Did I imagine that?

I was afraid for a minute they were going to go 70s, or worse, combine 50s and 70s. That would have been some typical PR team challenge fug.

I'm not on the Swapnil love train either. I'm still stuck on "Women tell me 'when we wear your clothes, men want to have sex with us.'" Ugh. I'm ok with Ashley feeling whatever feelings she had. What I could not get over was her inability to move past it, to the point where she whined to the judges about being picked last. Did she actually expect sympathy for that? I don't see race having anything to do with this whatsoever. Just because Laurie is black and the others are white doesn't mean anyone was being "racially insensitive", consciously or not. I think people tend to go there a little too easily these days. From what I saw, the attitude toward Laurie was because of her behavior with respect to Ashley. I agree. The blue flowers and Swapnil's wonky hem were the two things I disliked about the blue collection. This. Add to that their stupidity destroying their fabric before they had the first clue what they were doing. They thought they would just throw every color of paint on a sheet and things would just work out? Really? And it didn't occur to them to keep any of the fabric in reserve. Dumbasses.

Neither do Kat or Amy Trader. I noticed that from day one and I was surprised that Kelli never commented on it, since having a great smile is a huge part of the job description. But then I saw Cassie, and remembered that she's got that same thin, almost lipless smile. If it didn't bother Kelli back then, so I guess it doesn't now. She really got hit by some bad lighting. Or maybe it was just truthful lighting. It makes me wonder what all of them look like in real life. Especially the veterans. All that heavy makeup for so many years must be murder on the complexion. It would have taken hours and hours, maybe days to lighten her significantly. I wonder if Kelli just didn't feel like investing the time and effort in a dramatic change, since it was clear by that point Madeline was on the short list for the exit. She's "awkward" and her dancing isn't "mature" enough. Good luck figuring out what the hell that means and how to fix it, Rose! The difference between Shelbi and those other two is I've never gotten the "sweet" vibe from Shelbi. What I took away from Simone's talk with K&J is she's had an injury for about 4 months. She does rest and ice, but as soon as she starts using the arm again, the problem flares up again. How is training camp 5 nights a week for 3 months going to improve that situation? I wonder if they coached any of the girls beforehand. They've got that Belk show and the sexy bikini show every year, so now those activities are "tradition." And like every other DCC tradition, vitally IMPORTANT, and they have STANDARDS. So now I guess runway presence is relevant. I'm pretty fed up with Kelli calling girls into her office and berating them for being nervous and afraid. (Or bitching about it behind their backs.) That was unfair what she did to Megan. The "we need leaders" line was bull. A team that is nothing but leaders is a dysfunctional one. Kelli says she wants leaders, but I see her mostly choosing very young women who will follow directions blindly and without question, and yes ma'am everyone left, right, and center. Then, if they muster up some maturity in a year or three, she'll give them some responsibility.

Geez, I thought the point of making Stephanie red was to distinguish her from Loren. But I didn't realize Loren was so red too. They look way too much alike. I wonder why Kelli did that?

Exactly! I picture Colby stuffing rocks into her bra so she can make weight each week. LOL.

If they'd given her the slightest encouragement, she would've leapt out of her seat then and there. I would like to have seen her get that chance. On the other hand, it would set a horrible precedent to have to "dance for your life" during those office visits. And they would have cut her anyway. Kelli was anti-Colby from go, and I don't think there's anything that Colby could've done to change her mind. I do wonder about the point of citing size as a reason for cutting Colby and Emily. That seemed like such a BS reason, there was really no point in saying it, because neither Colby nor Emily were given a chance to do anything about it. (Unlike other girls, who have been given weeks to fix their weight in past seasons.)

I don't remember seeing "official" group photos for past years. Is this something new? I wish they'd take a new showgroup photo each year.

I don't know that it makes sense to dispute the judges votes, since none of us have actually seen seen the full auditions. We've only seen snippets here and there. The objection here mainly seems to be that certain vets should never have had any nos or maybes simply because they are great DCCs. But they're being scored on their performance that day and time, not on the entirety of their DCC career, and vets can screw up or have a weak day just like anyone else.