Thousands of weekend shoppers and Miami Dolphins fans stopped by Center Court at Aventura Mall on Saturday to watch 80 women participate in the final round of auditions for the football team’s cheerleading squad. The Dolphins' official audiovisual supplier, Southern Audio Visual, set up a 576-square-foot stage for the five-and-a-half-hour event. Held at the mall for the for the past five years, the event allows the fans to become part of the experience, said to Emily Newton, the team's cheerleading coordinator and director, who organized the event.
“For us the [fans] are the biggest critics. They know who they like, and we want their opinion,” said Newton. Through three rounds of auditions, judges narrowed down a field of more than 500 applicants to the final 80 who performed on Saturday. The fans were then given a chance to voice their opinions in the “Text Your Vote” event sponsored by radio station 99.9 KISS Country. Fans could also vote online for their favorite cheerleader from April 9 to 17.
"We wanted to keep up with the times of reality TV. In the beginning rounds on American Idol, the people don’t have a vote, but in the end they do; it’s the same for us," said Newton. Nearly 12,000 people participated, and the top 10 fan favorites received an extra 15 points on their scorecards.
The audition began with dancer introductions and group performances at 10 a.m. Each participant then got her time in the spotlight for a 60-second individual performance, which took nearly two hours in all, before the judges left the court to make their final selections.
During the judges' hourlong deliberation, the Dolphins mascot, T.D., and FinForce spirit team entertained guests with Dolphins trivia and gave away promotional T-shirts and team memorabilia. All the dancers returned to the stage for a finale before the judges announced the 40 women chosen to be 2009 Dolphins cheerleaders around 3:30 p.m.
