William A. Boykins/Dallascowboys.com
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For years, cheerleaders have been doing all the hard work of keeping the crowd’s spirits high during the most dismal of football games. What do they get for their efforts? Low pay, poor working conditions and rampant sexual harassment, according to a 2021 Sports Illustrated exposé.
Some small strides have been made in those areas such as bringing the pay to a few bucks above minimum wage and keeping the spirit alive for the fans by adding more dance and music performance acts to home games.
Teams such as the Dallas Mavericks have incorporated bold new ideas, like the beloved Mavericks ManiAACs dance squad. Even the Dallas Cowboys added its own drum line.
Now there’s a chance to be a part of this new football tradition. The Cowboys announced an open call for drummers for its Rhythm & Blue drum line team to perform at home games in AT&T Stadium and at other events.
Drummers can either submit a video for their tryout or show up with a snare and a set of sticks at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 27, at the Next Step Dance Performing Arts training facility on Cowboys Way in Frisco. Auditioners in both categories will need to perform a 30-60 second prepared piece as well as a 30-60 second improvised music track. You’ll also need to be able to sight-read music sheets and be prepared to, as Reel 2 Reel once said, “move it, move it.”
The Cowboys’ Rhythm & Blue team started in 2009 as the first official co-ed dance and performance group for an NFL team as a way to bring “an innovative, unique and exciting elements to the Cowboys legendary game-day entertainment line-up,” according to the official Cowboys website.
The performances include a full seven-person drum line on basses and snares performing with a team of 15 dancers. Dallas Conservatory choreographer and teacher and former Dallas Mavericks Dancers’ captain Jenny Durbin Smith has served as the Rhythm and Blue’s director, bringing a hip-hop-style vibe to game days to celebrate the team’s big and small victories. The drum line’s members come from all over Texas and even outside the state. In 2017, Mercedes Tobias of Memphis joined the team.
The Dallas Cowboys already have an official DJ, so don’t bother on that.
