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April Toles Leads Dancers In Pre-Saper Bow] Evenls
Gore Residenl, CHS Sladenl One Of 300 Picked In Stale
By D. J. LAAN
Staff Writer
. Agril Toles, a Chattooga
High School (CHS) junior and
captain of the Indian Spirit Pep
Squad, performed in the Super
Bowl XXXIV pre-game show as
an American All-Star dancer.
Miss Toles competed along with
several CHS Pep Squad team
mates and 2,000 other girls from
all over the United States for one
of 300 spots on the team.
The dancers perform na
tionally at professional sports
functions and as dance team ce
lebrities at events such as the
Emmy Awards, Disney Produc
tion shows, the presidential in
auguration and similar events.
Patti Turner, a CHS para
professional counselor ang pep
squad sponsor, had heard about
the team through her sister
Elaine Roberts, Atlanta, who is
the CHS Indian Spirit choreog
ra{)her and a former American
All-Star dancer.
OPPORTUNITY
“I thought it would be a
great opportunity for these %ep
squad girls to compete in ‘big
time’ competition,” Ms. Turner
said. She took the girls to
Woodward Academy, a private
school in College Park, ?or the
tryouts. More than 2,000 Geor
§ia %i‘rls participated in October
or the coveted 300 dance spots
in the Super Bowl pre-game
show, officials said. ,
Ms. Turner said all the girls
“did well in the tryouts” but April
showed remarkable talent.
Miss Toles said she was re
luctant to sign up for the tryouts
after Ms. Turner told her about
the opportunity.
I didn’t think I would have
a chance at being a dancer with
this team,” Aprif;said, “because
it seemed pretty obvious to me
that those chosen would be pro
fessional dancers, not high
school girls.”
DANCER
Sixteen vear old April said
she has been taking dance les
sons for the past six years. She
said her earfiest memories in
clude putting on play costumes
and dancing for her parents
Doster and Kathy Toles, Gore.
“When I auditioned for the
CHS Pep Squad, I was required
to create my own dance routine,
which I did, and I guess that was
part of why I was selected cap
tain of the new team,” she saicf.
“I can’t thank Ms. Turner
enough because she has put forth
100 percent effort and more in
gromoting not only my daughter
ut all the girls in the CHS Pep
Squad,” said Mrs. Toles.
Ms. Turner not only helped
prepare the girls for the compe
tition, but has already taken the
squad to Atlanta and to other
major cities to perform.
SEASONED
PERFORMERS
April said upon arrival at
Woodward Academy, the CHS
Pep Squad was stunned to see
what its members had already
fuessed: the girls already there
ooked as if they were seasoned
professionals warming-up for
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MOM KATHY TOLES (L), APRIL TOLES
Mother, Daughter Participate In Bowl Experience
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Chattooga Teen Performs In Pre-Game Entertainment
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COSTUME IS “COWHAND” CUTE
April Toles, CHS Junior, In Show Attire
the tryouts.
“I just felt apprehensive,”
April said.
However, Ms. Turner con
tinued to encourage her squad
members to do their best ang not
be intimidated.
“About 20 of us from Chat
tooga County went to a corner of
the gym and began loosening up.
We only had about 10 minutes to
learn a routine that we would be
performing,” April said.
Several units would go into
the routine, which incbluded
kicks, jumps, contagion (mo
mentum-like action such as
simulating a wave), turn-a
rounds, leaps and other dance
motions that the girls needed to
master.
The competition consisted
of teams of girf; appearing before
the judges and doing two-minute
routines.
“After each team performed,
the judges would select ‘X' num
ber of girls to redo their perfor
mance for final judging,” she
said.
WAITING
After performing, the Chat
tooga girls waited along with
hundreds of other Georgia girls
to see if they would be included
on the list of girls for the Super
Bowl dance team.
“Around noon time, they
posted the first list and everyone
rushed to the posting area to see
if their name was on the list,”
April said.
Her name was near the top
of the list as being chosen as an
American All-Star dancer re
cruit.
“I was in disbelief but I was
a little depressed because I
wanted my teammates to be cho
sen, also,” she said.
MOM
Not only was April chosen to
be part of the Super Bowl dance
team, her mother Kathy was
asked to be a production assis
tant.
“Jody Sherman, the Ameri
can All-Star production man
ager, asked me if I would like to
be her production and security
assistant durin% the Super Bowl
event,” Mrs. Toles said. Accept
ing the offer meant she would
have to be present at every re
hearsal with her dau%?ter and at
the Super Bowl with the dancers.
“I told Ms. Sherman that 1
would be honored to assist her,”
Mrs. Toles said.
RULES
The American All-Star
dance team has several rules and
regulations required of the team
members. The girls are forbid
den to have alcghol or non-pre
scription drugs in their E)osses
sion and no smoking is allowed.
All participants had to be at least
15.
Non-conforming hairs?'les
are forbidden as are foul [an
guage, unbecoming conduct or
ehavioral problems.
Absence from any rehearsal,
regardless of the reason, would
resultin an immediate dismissal
from the dance team.
“Team membership is an
honor,” Mrs. Toles said, “ and the
sgonsors want the girls to take
their selection with a serious at
titude and torealize that they are
representing not only the Ameri-
can All-Stars but also their
school, community and family.”
LINE-UP
Being chosen to dance in
fire-game show was definitely an
onor for the Chattooga County
girl. Her dance colleafiues in
cluded six Falcon cheerleaders,
several professional dancers in
cluding three whom owned their
own Georgia dance studios.
The event has been pro
duced and directed by the Ameri
can All-Stars organization for the
past 15 years and some of the
dancers have been in previous
productions.
Lessilee Fitzmorris, the
president of American All-Stars
told the girls that apglications for
the 300 slots had been coming
in since 1995. Many applicants
had been disqualified due to age,
academic performance, and
other reasons.
“It’s a tremendous honor for
these girls to even be invited to
try-out, nevertheless be chosen
for the official team,” Ms.
Fitzmorris said.
She pointed out that more
than 70,000 football fans would
be present at the Georgia Dome
as well as more than 150 million
Americans Ylus millions more
internationally tuning in via tele
vision.
PLANNING
During the next few weeks,
all the Toles family partic(ifi)ated
intrying to help April handle the
details. Her brother “Dustg'," 18,
and father Doster often ended up
making dinner for the family
when Kathy and April were in
Atlanta at rehearsals.
An added advantage of the
trips to Atlanta between mother
and daughter was the opportu
nity for communication.
1 Jnobably didn’t realli; get
excited about the entire thing
until the day that we went to the
Georgia Dome, and actually per
formed on the field,” Apri?said.
“I think I raved all the way back
to Gore after that rehearsal.”
Miss Toles had been chosen
by the choreographer, along with
other better gancers, to be sta
tioned on the perimeter of the
team lines and she was specifi
cally chosen to lead the 300 girls
onto the Super Bowl field.
HONOR
“Being designated to lead
the squad on the field was a real
honor,” Mrs. Toles said. _
April met Kristen Wolfe
during the rehearsals. Kristen is
a Lovejoy cheerleader and
American All Stardancer and the
two girls became friends.
“Meeting and making last
ing friendshigs with other Geor
gii,a girls on the team was one of
t gdassets of being chosen,” April
said.
The week before Super Bowl
XXXIV, the rehearsals were
scheduled almost every day.
“That was the week of the
big ice storm and I couldn’t be
lieve Mother Nature's timing,”
Mrs. Toles said.
As the Gore mother and
daughter were driving to Atlanta
on Jan. 22, they found them
selves in the mic{st of the storm
and they passed several car
wrecks.
“You can see that we were
determined not to miss a re
hearsal,” Mrs. Toles said.
Several girls did miss re
hearsals because of the weather
and in one case, a dancer’s
grandfather died. All the absent
team members were eliminated
from the dance team.
Mrs. Toles said it took her
four and one-half hours to drive
home from Atlanta the first night
of the ice storm due to the many
car crashes and poor visibility.
THURSDAY
On Thursday night before
the Super Bowl, whicfi was held
on the following Sunday, Kathy
and April Toles checked into a
College Park hotel.
“Because of the huge num
ber of room reservations for the
Super Bowl, we couldn’t get one
nifiht accommodations,” Mrs.
Toles said. “All the rooms were
three-night reservations or
more.
The weather was “very bad”
in Atlanta all three da{s. Friday
morning the two Chattooga
women had to be at the Georgia
Dome for the official dress re
hearsal for the pre-game show.
COSTUMES
The official costumes had
been ordered several weeks in
advance but Friday was the first
time the attire was fitted on the
dancers.
“The weather had put a
damrer on everything for of us,”
April recalled.
Each morning, Mrs. Toles'
vehicle would have an inch or
more of ice on it. Since the roads
iced at night, the two had to walk
to fast-food restaurants because
the hotel restaurant was closed.
Not enough employees to oper
ate the restaurant had been able
to get to work.
‘We mostly ate a combina
tion of food from Kentucky Fried
Chicken and Hardee's every
day,” Mrs. Toles said.
BIG DAY
The two had to be a
Woodward Academy around 11
a.m. to check in on Super Bowl
Sunday, and to board buses
which would take the dance
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APRIL TOLES (C), 300 DANCERS
Group Performs With Travis Tritt At Super Bowl
trouf)e to the Georgia Dome.
April dressed in her first music
performance costume, a cowgirl
suit. Althou%:] the All-Star dance
team would begin its Super Bowl
performance about 5:30 p.m.,
the troupe arrived at the Geor
gia Dome near 1 p.m.
Mrs. Toles attached a spe
cial security wristband on each
of the 300 girls that would give
them admittance onto the Super
Bowl field.
The dancers were taken un
der the Georfiia Dome to the cor
ridor where they would be enter
ing the Georgia Dome field.
“This was the worst part of
this entire deal,” April recalled.
The girls were dressed in
leotards and their performing
costume and the area that they
were taken to was not heated.
Most of the girls were very cold,
they said. At one time, April and
another dancer wrappeé them
selves in plastic ponchos and lay
down on a benc{: trying to keep
warm.
DISCONTENT
April said that most all the
dancers were upset about the
chilling conditions in the hall
way.
“There were lots of
mumblers — who could blame
us?” she asked.
She said throughout the
Sunday happenings, 5\03 was al
ways aware of the “celebrity ex
perience.” She said many people
were taking pictures of tfie danc
ers and asking for their auto
graphs.
As April waited to go on the
field, Mrs. Toles was on the side
lines near the underground cor
ridor waiting for the prompt that
would be given for the dancers
to come on the field.
“They had told us that cam
eras would be confiscated but 1
had one of those little self-con
tained cameras and I was sneak
ing pictures here and there,”
Mrs. Toles said mischievously.
TRAVIS TRITT
Word came down through
the corridor that Travis Tritt and
his band were heading for the
stage.
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TRAVIS TRITT, CENTER STAGE, REHEARSES
Singer Talks To April Toles, Dance Troupe
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TINA TURNER (C) MOVES TOWARD STAGING AREA
Prepares To Perform For Super Bowl Audience
“Everifone was yelling and
Eetting all excited because we
<new the time had arrived for
us’ .‘_}fil‘il said.
e entry music, “Put Some
Drive In Your Country,” began
and the doors to the corridor fiew
Qpen vt b -
ARril said she got the cue
from the production staff to lead
the dancers onto the Georgia
Dome field.
All the dancers ran to their
designated spots, including Miss
Toles, who was positioned on the
50-yard line in front of Tritt.
The dancer performed to
the first song and then to a sec
ond song, “Trouble.” At the end
of the song, the dancers left the
field through the same corridor.
Within one minute, the troupe
members had changed into their
second costume to accompany
singer Tina Turner in her vocal
rendition of “Proud Mary.”
MS. TURNER
As Ms. Turner's own dance
team took the stage with the cel
ebrated artist, the All-Star dance
team also re-entered the field
and this time, April was on the
20-yard line.
“I wasn't at April’s station
during the costume change, but
I assisted other dancers. During
the performance, I was on the
sidefines beaming with pride,”
Mrs. Toles said.
After the pre-game perfor
mances were completed, tEe girls
were sent to a transportation
area and re-boarded their buses.
While returning to
Woodward Academy, the girls
chattered about the excitement
of the day, barely rememberin
the cold of the corridor that ha§
{;lagued them just a short time
efore.
“I remember thinking about
how the massive audience%ooked
from the field. I couldn’t really
see faces — people looked like
little pinhead};," April said.
DREAMS
She said many of the danc
ers shared their dreams of bein
“discovered” at the Super Bovfi
with each other.
“While we were on the field,
The Summerville News, Thursday, February 10, 2000 —
Kristen and I were scanning one
section looking for Cher and
Leonardo de Caprio,” April said
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RAMS CHEERLEADER (L) UNIDENTIFIED
April Toles Meets Cheerleaders Of Both Teams
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TENNESSEE PLAYER OR MISS TOLES?
Gore Girl Tries “NFL Experience”
with a grin.
She said everything seem
“larger than life,” to the wishful
dancers.
On the trip home, both
Kathy and April were relatively
quiet.
“We were sort of suffering
from a “post-Super Bowl let
down,” April said.
“We were both really tired
and I guess it was over too soon,”
Kathy said.
FUTURE
April said several dance
camps are scheduled for the In
dian Spirit Pep Squad durin% the
next several weeks and she plans
on attending them all. The local
troupe was in invited to perform
Saturday at Mount Berry Square
Mall, Rome, at its anniversary
celebration. The following week,
it will travel to Atlanta to (I);bserve
another dance competition.
Miss Toles is the 1999 Chat
tooga County Junior Miss. She
was one of the charter members
of the resurrected Explorer’s
Club this last year and is sergeant
and treasurer of that organiza
tion. She holds a part-time cash
ier job with the Pigily Wiggly
super market, Armuchee.
In June, the troupe will par
ticipate at the American All-Stars
training camp in Boca Raton,
Fla., in which 100 new dancers
will be chosen for the official
American All-Star’s dance team.
“I hope that several of us will
be chosen for that team,” April
said.
After the camp, the CHS Pep
Squad dance team is scheduled
to perform for Walt Disney
World’s Epcot Center audiences.
Miss Toles said she hopes to
attend West Georgia College af
ter high school and pursue a
teaching career.
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