Blog

Team: South Metro Dance Academy
Location: Lakeville, Minnesota
Style: Dance Studio

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

Louisville Ladybird Dance Team- National Champs! 

It's hard to deny the Louisville Ladybird Dance Team'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.   You can also catch Todd Sharp and the team on their new show "So Sharp," premiering July 26 on Lifetime! Here's a peek at the team's performance and dance costumes this past season! 

 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: 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!

When spring starts rolling in, we know you've already started planning for next season. First step: form your team.  Second step: team apparel! Are you trying to find some fun ideas for apparel besides the standard shirt and spirit jersey from you local t-shirt shop?  Check out a few of our favorite trends for dance team warm-ups and practice apparel below!

Team: Farragut

Coach: Adonia Adams

Location: Knoxville, TN

Dance Style: High School Dance Team- Small Varsity Jazz 

Mollie Sylvestre: Choreographer & Teacher at Dance Arts Centre and Co-Founder of Matrixx Pro

Wondering about dance careers after high school?  The options abound, but for many the first things that come to mind include auditioning for a college dance team, majoring in dance in college, or making the bold move to become a professional dancer.

But there are other, sometimes less conventional, options as well!  This week we're sharing stories from nine passionate dancers that found ways to keep dancing after high school. Check out their inspirational stories!

Photo via Minnesota Vikings Cheerleaders 

So you're a dancer and you're about to graduate high school ... now what!?!  There are so many options to further your passion, but we know the possibilities can seem daunting.  It takes guts and confidence to make that bold move into the next phase of your dance life! 

Joining a college dance team or majoring in dance are common paths, but there are other options for dance careers as well.   We've asked some of our friends in the industry how they've stayed connected in the dance world into their adult life.  Find inspiration in their stories!!

UCONN Dance Team with a fun, sporty and feminine look!  

The 2017 dance competition season officially came to a close last weekend with the 2017 NDA College Nationals!   

College dance teams have been known to sport a lot of unitard looks at NDA, but this year we saw teams mix it up quite a bit!  Check out some of our favorite dance costume trends from the competition (some by TLU, and some by others).