Ultimate Cheerleaders (The First Five Years)

Natalie's Dance Team Journal:
The Brand of the Timberwolves Dance Team

October 6, 2005
Hello again Timberwolves Fans!

Everything and everyone has a certain image that it portrays. When you think of the Minnesota Timberwolves certain things come to mind: players like KG and Wally; team colors like green, blue, white and black; our mascot Crunch; and of course, the Dance Team. These elements make up the identity of the Minnesota Timberwolves organization. At the same time, each element, including the dance team, has it's own brand.

The Timberwolves Dance Team has a very specific look, image and influence. Like most professional sports dance and cheer teams, we are known for being able to entertain the crowd, as well as being easy on the eyes! While other NBA dance teams strive for a certain appeal--theatrical, urban, western, blue collar, white collar--the Timberwolves Dance team also has its own look and feel.

We've adopted the catchword “cosmopolitan" as the all-encompassing word to describe our team's brand. A Timberwolves Dancer is confident, yet approachable. She is as intelligent as she is beautiful. She is fearless and friendly! Each member of the Timberwolves Dance Team is a classy, feminine woman whose ambition has taken her to the ultimate level of professional dance.



One major aspect of our brand is our look. The look of our team is very specific--small, feminine, sexy and sleek. We don’t do over-the-top hair, makeup and costumes. We aren't going for a larger than life look. Rather, we incorporate the latest trends into our brand. Because we are always on top of the most current styles, we are constantly adjusting our core “cosmopolitan” look by reinventing ourselves with trendy new costumes, glam makeup and classy hairstyles. At the same time, we hold true to a certain standard of sophistication, achieving a high level of poise, grace and crowd appeal.

Each Timberwolves Dancer is also held to a certain standard of fitness and beauty by ourselves, our directors and our fans. We keep our bodies and souls in the best shape possible by eating well, working out, training hard and taking care of ourselves-body and mind. We avoid an overly pumped up physique, allowing our costumes to look their best as well as give you the best show possible. Our ultimate goal is to be able to have a fit and toned body that makes us able to wear brand right costumes without looking trashy and to be very confident in doing so.

Everything within our team comes back to our brand-it's not just about costumes and how we look-it's also about the events we appear at. Our directors are very selective when scheduling appearances. Each appearance is looked at as an extension of the marketing of the Minnesota Timberwolves organization and the Timberwolves Dance Team. Often appearances are declined if they don't meet our directors "brand" standard. There are just some appearances that aren't in the best interest of our organization or team. While it is important for us to be out in the community at both charity and private events-it is also important that we protect and continue to enhance our brand while doing so.

Another huge focus that contributes to our brand is our material and music selection. We strive to bring the hottest, most cutting edge choreography and artistic appeal to our audience. We have strong choreographer influences from the L.A. and New York dance scenes-we attend conventions, take outside classes, attend concerts, and watch a lot of videos to keep on top of the latest and greatest trends in dance. Whatever’s hot on the coasts, is hot to us and gets incorporated into our material and brought to our fans! On the flip side, part of the appeal of our team is the range of material and genres we cover in our performances. One week we may be doing a hip-hop routine to the newest rap hit, and the next we are moving to a classic Tina Turner song. We maintain a strong sense of identity while being able to give our fans variety on the cutting edge.

While our cosmopolitan brand remains the goal, the Timberwolves Dance team strives to constantly reinvent itself, push the envelope, turn over a new leaf to keep things fresh, exciting and new for the fans. Because when it comes down to it YOU, the fans, are who we do it all for!

-Natalie

Labels: NBA, Philanthropy, Timberwolves