The Line Up Blog

The Louisville Ladybirds this past fall on gameday in the 202-7 Mesh Sublimated Top.

It's hard to deny the Louisville Ladybird's presence.  The team has won 9 out of the last 10 national titles at the NDA Collegiate Cheer & Dance Championship, and has 14 national titles overall.   Walking into competition, their reputation precedes them! 

Their team dynamic is unique because they have quite a large team, are co-ed, and have a very strong work ethic. "They don't stop until they have mastered their choreography and skills. They don't settle or rest for good enough, they are always pushing to be better," said TRIBE 99.  So it's no surprise this hard work pays off at competition.   

Led by Cheryl Knight and Todd Sharp, the team performs at football games in addition to competing in the Dance Team Performance and Hip Hop 1A division this past spring at NDA.    Here's a peek at the team's performance and costumes this past season!

We know the importance of building a strong team. But we also know that there is a lot of advice out there on team building activities that are so lame!  It's important for your team to mesh together nicely, but a new season and a new team can be intimidating both for coaches and the team members. To help with transition, we've compiled a list of 9 Team Building Ideas you can implement with your new team this fall! 

Team: Totino Grace E'gals
Director/Head Coach: Kristen Gagnon
Location: Totino Grace Highschool, Fridley, MN 
Style: Jazz & High Kick High School Dance Teams

 Costume fit model Taylor tries on a new outfit before it hits the hip hop catalog.

We have a small but important rule here at The Line Up: every sample garment that leaves the building MUST be tried on.

Every day at 1pm sharp, you can find our team at Fit Session, where a costume fit model tries on all of our new designs.  Whether its a custom design for a client or new product going up on our store, we like to make sure every pattern is right and fits a REAL body. Putting it on a mannequin is helpful, but a real body is best in order to move and dance in it as intended!

This leads to one very unique job at The Line Up: a Fit Model.  These ladies are our real life, size small mannequins, and often get poked and prodded as they test out all our sample garments.  

We sat down with Pam and Taylor, our past and present fit models, for our new employee spotlight series. Check out what they had to say about their highly unusual but very important job!

Team: St. Louis Synergy

Director/Head Coach: Charity Hendrickson

Location: St.Louis, MO

Style: Intermediate Synchronized Skating 

Team: Bismarck Demonettes

Director/Head Coach: Jen Holwegner

Location: Bismarck, ND

Style: High School Danceline - High Kick

  A Sparkling Jersey Trend: Tami Gaga, Sparkle Jersey, 420 Tank Gaga

The look of the game day cheer uniform is changing!  The classic cheer look - which will always hold a strong torch - is starting to look a little faded next to the glitz and glam of innovative all star looks.  So what does this mean for new trends for your fall 2017 game day looks?  Check out our 10 favorite trends for the modern cheer uniforms, that create the perfect mix of classic and innovation!

Team: First Ladies Dance Team, George Washington University
Director/Head Coach: Kate Southall, Spirit Coordinator
Location: Washington DC
Style: Gameday

Drake University Dance Team in the Ayla Dress

Team: Drake University

Director/Coach: Student Run

Location: Des Moines, IA

Style: Collegiate Game Day Cheer and Appearance

This February, directors for NFL's prestigious cheer and dance teams got their 2018 season off to a start at the NFL Director's Conference in Philadelphia! We were able to chat with a few of our coaching friends while attending the event, and asked them if they had any advice for fellow coaches.  Here's what these experienced and talented women had to say!