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S14.E09: Field Ready


Drogo
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The DCC take the field for the first time in their signature DCC boots. Learning the DCC entrance proves very challenging for some, while others struggle to get accustomed to dancing in cowboy boots. Melissa Rycroft is featured.

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1 hour ago, KickPretty said:

Where is everyone?  Why am I here all alone?  I wanted to make fun of Christina’s fake office together. 😂😂 

HAHAHAHAHA! I was thinking, she has an office with a view like that? WTH?

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1 hour ago, KickPretty said:

Where is everyone?  Why am I here all alone?  I wanted to make fun of Christina’s fake office together. 😂😂 

31 minutes ago, Lily80 said:

HAHAHAHAHA! I was thinking, she has an office with a view like that? WTH?

Yeah - it was one of those "rent an office " space thingies for a hour or day.. 

My guess is she'll be back at starbucks, home or where there is cheaper real estate when filming is over. 

I liked the tour of the of stadium. Wouldn't the locker room configuration change depending on the nbr of veterans and rookies? Meaning one year (this year) they would need more physical lockers on the veteran side - since one of the group leaders said there are only 9 spots?   They scrolled so fast I couldn't tell if all of the pictures were from the last season team.

Edited by sATL
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I say this every year... If the entrance is soooo important why do they wait weeks into the camp before going over all of the little parts?

With the star complex and other surrounding HS/college fields, I thought there was a place to with yard lines to practice on if the Stadium is unavailable.  

1st week teach the arm movement, next week teach going from the goal line to the let say the 10 yard line.. working the way up to the 50.

Edited by sATL
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I hated the stadium tour—except the girls’ locker room part. But, like, I don’t need to see where the Jones family sits their rich white butts during games. And why is Abigail the only DCC photo displayed? I get it—she’s beautiful—but couldn’t they have at least put up a group shot? 

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Ya know, for what this season has produced so far I did not find this episode to be all that bad.

The stadium tour was a bit weird, but it was nice seeing the girls visit the locker room and see how excited they were to be so close to the end of TC. I lol'd at the Abigail Klein idol-worship though 😂 (though I will admit I absolutely LOVE her ;) ).

The Caroline love is insane (in a good way) this season. Didn't know that much about her or her dancing until she won ROTY. Since then, what I've seen has been great!

I for one didn't mind the prayer circle/event. It's in Texas and as long as the girls didn't mind, I say go for it! Daphne, Tess and Shaina all seemed to appreciate it and it's always great to see bonding moments on the show.

I for one understand why Madeline was not chosen for this year's squad, but I 100% hope she does come back next year. I'm sure their will be a lot of people in her corner, myself included.

3 hours ago, KickPretty said:

Where is everyone?  Why am I here all alone?  I wanted to make fun of Christina’s fake office together. 😂😂 

I would make fun of that segment, but they showed Danielle and I have soft spot for her so I'll just say I enjoyed it for what it was. :)

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2 hours ago, Route66 said:

Absolutely loathed the grief whoring forced on poor Shaina. There was no need whatsoever for Kelli to bring her own pastor who may be of a different faith and who's a complete stranger, to discuss the girls' private struggles.

I was thinking about that too. “Shaina” is a Hebrew name (it means “beautiful”—quite fitting for her). I wonder if she’s Jewish?

Anyone know anything about this helicopter crash? How tragic.

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2 hours ago, Lily80 said:

And why is Abigail the only DCC photo displayed? I get it—she’s beautiful—but couldn’t they have at least put up a group shot? 

Maybe there are other individual DCC photos elsewhere at the stadium they didn’t show on the tour?

I was happy Abigail’s photo was so prominently positioned. She’s my all-time favorite DCC. Exceptionally beautiful, but a special girl in other ways too.

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Because I am mentally 12 years old sometimes, I giggled when Phil said, "This is Mr. Jones' special area." Am I supposed to be impressed that he has a skybox for watching the game on top of the owner's club and the Jones' suite? What a waste.

Ugh, OF COURSE, Abigail was VK's big star so we could give her (VK, that is) some more screen time. I was rolling my eyes when Victoria said that Abigail is "literally the idol of what a DCC is and what it represents." Sure, maybe I should cut her some slack since she's only 19, but she sounds like she doesn't know how to put together a basic sentence.

1 hour ago, Lona said:

I for one didn't mind the prayer circle/event. It's in Texas and as long as the girls didn't mind, I say go for it!

But we'll never know if any girls minded because none of them would be stupid enough to speak up and say that having a religious person come talk to them at rehearsal made them feel uncomfortable.

I agree that they should start working on the field entrance sooner. As Kelli said, it is something that a lot of dancers don't have previous experience with, which is why they should be given more time to work on it. My high school dance team only performed on the track area that surrounded the football field. We never performed on the grass, even during halftime. Same  for the cheerleaders. My college dance team performed on the field and that was a big change.

When you perform in a smaller area (and smaller is relative because a football field is HUGE), it's much easier to keep your formations lined up because you can see each other out of the corner of your eye and you can feel how close you are to the people near you. But when you perform on a football field, you're so spread out that you have  to rely on the yard lines and the hash marks to keep your formations clean.

It can take some getting used to, which is exactly why they should start working on it way sooner in training camp. I'd say let them settle in the first week and then have them on the field by the second week so they have enough time to work out how big their stride has to be in order to hit the lines. It sucks that this is touted as one of the most important things for them to do but they don't get the chance to learn it or practice it until the SIXTH week of training camp.

I noticed that during the initial critiques of the girls doing the entrance, Meredith was told that she was behind on the last move (which she was) but no mention of Victoria (who was right behind her) being behind the rest of her group when hitting the yard lines. I was actually really curious how well she would do at this, mostly because her spatial awareness seems to be non-existent (based on how many times we saw her getting into other people's space during auditions - remember when she almost took someone out last year?).

I know some people here don't like Melissa's sessions with the TCCs but what she (well, let's be real, the producers and/or Kelli) had them do is a very helpful tool. During rehearsal, the girls are in a group so it's not always easy to see exactly what they need to work on individually. Having each of them dance next to a vet like Gina made it obvious that all three of these girls could have easily been cut. They know the choreography but the way they perform it is lackluster (and Meredith is always behind at some point even when she knows the routine).

Gina's advice to Madeline was spot on. Sometimes when girls are told to be stronger and more powerful, they put more energy into their movements without controlling them or knowing exactly where to stop each position, and that ends up making them look sloppy, noodly, out of control, etc.

Ugh, I was so annoyed when Judy said that Madeline was making a lot of memory mistakes. Don't get me wrong - she definitely made some errors but Meredith made FAR MORE mistakes. Even when she danced with Kelcey and Chandi and Kelli said she looked good and Judy said she was sharp, her spacing was totally off. There are supposed to be two hash marks between each dancer, which you can see at the beginning of the dance:

345028722_dcc1.thumb.jpg.aa1d4fbe2596d404577a18fb653337a1.jpg

In the ending pose, Meredith was one hash mark too close to Kelcey:

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I was surprised that Kelli thought that was Christina's best dance of the season because I thought she looked clunky.

I thought it was a shame that Madeline was cut because she isn't any worse than Meredith, Lily, or Kat who lived to see another week of training camp. Meredith had one decent performance in a week when she made numerous errors, including almost taking out other people before the kickline.

Edited by ElectricBoogaloo
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RE: the pastor/prayer-circle/motivational speech :

I thought sports teams ( all or most ) have or have access to a team chaplain or grief counselor, who may have a religious background or affiliation.  So I kinda viewed the minister's appearance and talk along those lines - from the heart, trying his best not to offend or step on any toes . For now, I am going to give him the benefit of the doubt that he was trying to come and share from a good place.

I figured that the minister was probably also (or wants to be) on stand-by staff with the Cowboys Organization in addition to having an close affiliation with Kelli. 

It's too bad that his visit happened after a sequence of sad events to the TCC community. I ready to hear some good news about the TCC lives- has anyone become an aunt, or got a new job/promotion, got a new puppy/kitten, (grand)parents returned from their dream vacation, etc.

Edited by sATL
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1 hour ago, sATL said:

RE: the pastor/prayer-circle/motivational speech :

I thought sports teams ( all or most ) have or have access to a team chaplain or grief counselor, who may have a religious background or affiliation.  So I kinda viewed the minister's appearance and talk along those lines - from the heart, trying his best not to offend or step on any toes . For now, I am going to give him the benefit of the doubt that he was trying to come and share from a good place.

I figured that the minister was probably also (or wants to be) on stand-by staff with the Cowboys Organization in addition to having an close affiliation with Kelli. 

It's too bad that his visit happened after a sequence of sad events to the TCC community. I ready to hear some good news about the TCC lives- has anyone become an aunt, or got a new job/promotion, got a new puppy/kitten, (grand)parents returned from their dream vacation, etc.

They could have just as easily brought in a non-religious motivational speaker to give them a pep talk/lean on your sisters speech. I just find it unnecessary to bring in a pastor to a DCC rehearsal to give that kind of little talk.

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2 minutes ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

They could have just as easily brought in a non-religious motivational speaker to give them a pep talk/lean on your sisters speech. I just find it unnecessary to bring in a pastor to a DCC rehearsal to give that kind of little talk.

100% agree. Zero need to bring in a pastor. 

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Yeah, these women know better than to object to Kelli's pastor. Guess production was going for some grief porn in a bid for viewer sympathy.

In fact, I hated the beginning of the episode - the tour, the awkward "office" visit. Most recruiters I know work from home, or in cubicles. Unless they are senior managers, they don't have a corner office with windows.

I can see the heavy hand of the new showrunners, transparently featuring several women in every episode - Victoria, Kat and Meredith. As of this episode, it's egregious. And boring.

Melissa gave better guidance than anything we hear from Kelli or Judy.

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9 hours ago, KickPretty said:

Where is everyone?  Why am I here all alone?  I wanted to make fun of Christina’s fake office together. 😂😂 

I like Christina but I doubt she's an actual headhunter. I assume a "recruiter for a staffing agency" is more along the lines of someone that books office temps.  FWIW I've worked temps and every agency I worked for was in a nice part of town and typically in a fancy office building. That business can be lucrative and someone like a popular DCC can probably be very valuable as a rainmaker, along the lines of getting contracts to provide temps to Tangerine Salon Corporate. As an All Star, Danielle probably gets to meet tons of movers and shakers and possibly make deals for her agency.

The editing in that scene was also terrible. It mentioned at the end that Christina had moved location for her work which made the commute easier. Why not just have a quick talking head where she says "I got called into the office and told I seemed tired and off kilter. I had the opportunity to speak to Danielle, a former DCC who got me my current job. She understands the challenge of time management and luckily was able to get me transferred to an office near the Star." That would have the same effect of showing Christina has a job, featuring Danielle, and displaying the value of DCC sisterhood.

Edited by Route66
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10 minutes ago, Route66 said:

Why not just have a quick talking head where she says "I got called into the office and told I seemed tired and off kilter. I had the opportunity to speak to Danielle, a former DCC who got me my current job. She understands the challenge of time management and luckily was able to get me transferred to an office near the Star." That would have the same effect of showing Christina has a job, featuring Danielle, and displaying the value of DCC sisterhood.

You are absolutely correct.  They have always had these little formats where they "call back" a favorite former DCC for a cameo.  Remember Jackie Bob at the doctor's office with a rookie who just got her nursing certification?  I just think Danielle was sort of like...what now you are going to hug me?  okay, I was trying to keep it more business and natural like, but okay.  I agree it is unnecessary and DCC dancers can't act, but I like giving a shout out to Danielle...so hokey as heck but I give it a pass.

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18 minutes ago, ATLGirl said:

The inappropriateness of it was jarring when Kelli was rattling on about how Shaina “just wasn’t ready to talk yet” about what she was going through.

Kelli was likely disappointed Shaina did not choose to speak as I expect she wanted to exploit all that drama.  Why else would you do it in front of cameras?  Not cool, it should be optional and off camera.  Shaina handled it really well though, thanking Kelli for the sentiment, etc.

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I did not care for Victoria last season, but I guess I’m in the minority this season because I think she’s shown big improvements. In the stadium tour, I did a double take at first because I didn’t realize it was her. She looked amazing. Is she perfect? No, but none of the girls are. I give her kudos for taking the negative that was last year and turning it around this year. Did she have the staff on her side, sure, but no one can take away the work that she herself has put in. Her body alone is a huge transformation. 
 

ordinarily, I would have no problem with Kelli bringing in her pastor or any other motivational speaker at this point in camp to encourage the ladies, but with circumstances as they were, I felt it was inappropriate. Watching it play out, I was putting myself in Shainas shoes. I’ve lost someone very near and dear to me and I’m not the same person I was before. Had I been shaina, I would have mixed feelings of guilt (feeling as though this was done just for me), feelings of shame (as though I wasn’t grieving the way the thought I should, and grief is so very personal), and feelings of being slightly exploited. In the beginning, she looked uncomfortable to me. I know if it were me, I would be doing every thing I could to stay focused on the task at hand, knowing my grief was consuming me. I would be showing up to practice, dancing, and welcoming the brief distraction from my emotions and thoughts. Having someone come in and speak, partly because of my personal tragedy would take my emotions right back to the dark side. I don’t think I would have been able to focus on practice following that. I’m glad she had her coach and team support, but I think Kelli’s attempt to help was a bit misguided and very unhelpful. 
 

I get the feeling Lily would be a better dancer once the pressure was off. After last season nd her cut, I would be stressed dancing too. 
 

im not sure why “1 good dance in her bag of tricks” was ok for Meredith and Christina, but Lily was told it wouldn’t be enough. Lily has been far more consistent than Meredith...why wasn’t she given the same feedback. 
 

Ive never been a Christina fan. She was desperate and full of excuses every year she tried out. And the fake tears/trying to make herself cry was an immediate turn off for me. She earned a little bit more of my respect this week by the way she carried herself. I saw a lot more maturity. She’s still my least favorite though. Lol

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14 minutes ago, sugarplum said:

Watching it play out, I was putting myself in Shainas shoes. I’ve lost someone very near and dear to me and I’m not the same person I was before. Had I been shaina, I would have mixed feelings of guilt (feeling as though this was done just for me), feelings of shame (as though I wasn’t grieving the way the thought I should, and grief is so very personal), and feelings of being slightly exploited. In the beginning, she looked uncomfortable to me. I know if it were me, I would be doing every thing I could to stay focused on the task at hand, knowing my grief was consuming me. I would be showing up to practice, dancing, and welcoming the brief distraction from my emotions and thoughts. Having someone come in and speak, partly because of my personal tragedy would take my emotions right back to the dark side. I don’t think I would have been able to focus on practice following that. 

I know from my own personal experience (and I know others here have experienced it as well) after one of my best friends died of a sudden heart attack in his 30s that grief can be incredibly physically and mentally draining. It took me months to get anywhere close to normal again. 

I cannot imagine Shaina being able to shove all that internal struggle aside and learning dance routines, focusing on the kickline, etc. Wow.

I admire her for being able to even get through practice that day without falling apart. 

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4 minutes ago, ATLGirl said:

I know from my own personal experience (and I know others here have experienced it as well) after one of my best friends died of a sudden heart attack in his 30s that grief can be incredibly physically and mentally draining. It took me months to get anywhere close to normal again. 

I cannot imagine Shaina being able to shove all that internal struggle aside and learning dance routines, focusing on the kickline, etc. Wow.

I admire her for being able to even get through practice that day without falling apart. 

I completely agree. I went through the motions and nothing more for over a year after my sister passed away unexpectedly (at 31, leaving behind my 4 year old niece). Some days even now, I feel like that’s all I’m doing and it’s been 3 years. I didn’t function. But I can appreciate a welcome distraction and throwing yourself at something to keep from drowning in your grief. My heart goes out to Shaina. 

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13 minutes ago, sATL said:

Is the issue is that the man is a pastor vs. some other job title (educational background) vs. that he spoke to the group in the 1st place?

For me the issue was it was on camera, and it was not one directional.  I.e. if it was just the pastor speaking, camera focused on his message, without expectation of sharing I would have less issue with that.

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9 hours ago, sATL said:

I say this every year... If the entrance is soooo important why do they wait weeks into the camp before going over all of the little parts?

But wait, that would be logical and then they wouldn't have to make training camp so long!

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7 hours ago, Lona said:


I for one understand why Madeline was not chosen for this year's squad, but I 100% hope she does come back next year. I'm sure their will be a lot of people in her corner, myself included.

I get that she lacks power, but I think the rest is there so I would like to see her next year.  Amy's pass on her didn't help.  I also didn't care for her being cut before worse dancers like Meredith.  Did anyone else notice Judy was encouraging her to come back but said she really would have to work hard?  I think it was because Kelli did NOT speak up and encourage her to come back next year.

Edited by Mardo2044
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24 minutes ago, Mardo2044 said:

I get that she lacks power, but I think the rest is there so I would like to see her next year.  Amy's pass on her didn't help.  I also didn't care for her being cut before worse dancers like Meredith.  Did anyone else notice Judy was encouraging her to come back but said she really would have to work hard?  I think it was because Kelli did NOT speak up and encourage her to come back next year.

YES! I watched Kelli throughout her exchange and at the very end. To me, Kelli looked almost smug like she was pleased with herself when it was all over. No tears for Madeline, she saved all those for Meredith. 

If I was Madeline, I would move on and not look back. No way Kelli is letting her into TC again no matter how much she improves (and she does need more time to do that).  She has a better future ahead of her without DCC. 

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1 hour ago, Mardo2044 said:

She's a cancer survivor so she could wear anything she wants IMO, I love door lady!

Plus her job must suck during training camp. I feel like a death March behind her as she pulls girls into the office. 

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Quote

Isn't Kelli a producer?

She may have a producer credit as a mechanism to earn money from the show, but usually these  reality TV "producers" don't prepare shooting scripts and edit the footage. That part of the business is controlled by Viacom, which owns CMT.

I'm assuming the Cowboys organization, not Kelli, originally reached out to CMT and negotiated the package for this show. Kelli is "just" an employee, although a featured one. And of course CMT production cooperates closely with Kelli and the other Cowboys folks.

There are some exceptions to who controls production, such as the Kardashians.

Edited by pasdetrois
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11 hours ago, Route66 said:

Absolutely loathed the grief whoring forced on poor Shaina. There was no need whatsoever for Kelli to bring her own pastor who may be of a different faith and who's a complete stranger, to discuss the girls' private struggles. It seemed they were given the chance to speak individually and Shaina chose to not talk to a bunch of girls she met 6 weeks ago and the CMT cameras about her friends dying. Kelli's segue was awful, too. Like, "welp it's terrible when your friends die in a helicopter crash but there's still cuts to be made."

Mostly OT but Cheryl's dress during cuts was distractingly hideous.

Everything you wrote is 100 percent correct. I didn't even think of it while watching, but yes. "Grief whoring" is the perfect description of this. As if ANYTHING about training camp, being a DCC, etc. should be in the same conversation as something as tragic as losing three friends all at once at such a young age. If anything, all it does is emphasize the complete frivolity of cheering in the NFL.

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12 hours ago, sATL said:

Yeah - it was one of those "rent an office " space thingies for a hour or day.. 

My guess is she'll be back at starbucks, home or where there is cheaper real estate when filming is over. 

I liked the tour of the of stadium. Wouldn't the locker room configuration change depending on the nbr of veterans and rookies? Meaning one year (this year) they would need more physical lockers on the veteran side - since one of the group leaders said there are only 9 spots?   They scrolled so fast I couldn't tell if all of the pictures were from the last season team.

That was definitely a VP/executive office!  My initial thought is Christina probably works in a tiny cubicle.

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I found myself giggling at Kelly's pastor addressing a group of identically scantily clad women. Did they really have to be in their skimpy practice uniforms for this counseling? I suppose ministers, they see it all, so it probably didn't faze him. 

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15 minutes ago, BullInChina said:

I found myself giggling at Kelly's pastor addressing a group of identically scantily clad women. Did they really have to be in their skimpy practice uniforms for this counseling? I suppose ministers, they see it all, so it probably didn't faze him. 

I didn't get to watch in realtime last night but you'd think they'd at least have them in "business attire" for a minister visit

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Madeline is so pretty.

Judy had some great faces and lines last night. “Meredith you were actually sharp with that one!” Lol

Lily looks like she is starving herself. She just looks miserable.

Daphne still bugs me. Nothing she says sounds genuine.

What year was the new stadium built? When Meredith said she once danced on the Cowboys field in 8th grade did she mean at AT&T?

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13 hours ago, Lily80 said:

I hated the stadium tour—except the girls’ locker room part. But, like, I don’t need to see where the Jones family sits their rich white butts during games. And why is Abigail the only DCC photo displayed? I get it—she’s beautiful—but couldn’t they have at least put up a group shot? 

I didn’t mind the tour, and it gave VK a sweet moment, BUT if I had been in the Jones suite, it would’ve been a struggle not to say, “Sweet digs for an owner who hasn’t won a Super Bowl in 20 years.” Yeah, one of the many reasons I’d never be a cheerleader.

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1 hour ago, BluegrassDCCFan said:

2009 according to Wiki.  How old is Meredith?

42 minutes ago, NoChtngWhenEtng said:

No clue, but under 23 is probable since I don't think she went to college. If I remember her bio she went to NYC after high school then to the magic show in Guam. Lol.

Could be wrong and misremembering but I believe Meredith said she was 27 last season when she was featured. 😊

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