Madonna picks Southern troupe
by Robert Stewart
Advocate staff writer
Southern University’s dance team can thank YouTube for the experience of a lifetime.
The squad, known as the Dancing Dolls, performed in Sunday’s Bridgestone Super Bowl XLVI Halftime Show, one of the most renowned performances in entertainment, with Madonna, an international pop music icon.
Lawrence Jackson, Southern University’s band director, said Madonna discovered the Dancing Dolls after watching a video of one of their performances on the popular streaming video website.
“It goes to show the power of YouTube,” Jackson said with a laugh.
After three trips to New York to practice with Madonna, the Dancing Dolls finally got their chance to show the world their talents at halftime of a game that has drawn more than 100 million viewers the past two years.
Jackson said this performance is the first for the Dancing Dolls at the Super Bowl.
Kayla Smith, the Dolls’ captain, said the Dolls felt perfectly comfortable right before they went on stage.
“Once (Madonna) did all her tricks in the show, we knew all we had to do was go out and do our best,” Smith said in a telephone interview after the show. “We were on automatic.”
Smith said Madonna told her that one of her personal trainers found the troupe while searching for dancers on YouTube.
Smith and another member, April Rollins, flew to New York in early December to meet Madonna.
“We thought we were actually going to be learning something, but when we got there, they wanted April and I to teach them something,” Smith said. “We were like, ‘Oh wow, you want our choreography?’”
Smith said Madonna treated the Dancing Dolls with the utmost respect throughout the process.
“We are so privileged and knew this was a once in a lifetime opportunity,” she said.
The Southern University Band Department, which oversees the Dancing Dolls, will receive a payment for the Dolls’ performance, Jackson said, but he declined to say how much the payment will be.
The Dolls normally have 11 members, but Madonna said she needed at least 20 dancers for the number, so the group pulled in nine more Southern students that they knew were good dancers, Southern University spokesman Edward Pratt said.
The 20 dancers made their way to the Big Apple in the second week of January, and 10 of them flew up last week before they all arrived in Indianapolis Tuesday night, Jackson said.
The Dolls practiced their portion of the halftime routine Tuesday before going through full dress rehearsals with the entire ensemble Wednesday and Thursday, Jackson said.
“(Madonna) believes in practicing for long hours at a time,” Jackson said. “She likes to tweak things. She’s a hands-on entertainer.”
Jackson said Super Bowl halftime show representatives contacted him about possibly inviting the Dancing Dolls shortly after the State Farm Bayou Classic in November.
The university had to keep quiet about the performance because of a confidentiality agreement with the NFL, Pratt said.
“It was killing us,” Pratt said. “This is an amazing event for our students, and we were bursting at the seams to try to say something.”
James Rollins, April Rollins’ father, was just as frustrated about keeping the secret.
He said his daughter finally told him she was performing at the Super Bowl after she had been flying back and forth from New York to work with Madonna.
“I wanted to tell my parents,” James Rollins said. “My daughter’s been dancing since she was 3 years old. Here she is dancing on the biggest stage, and I can’t tell anybody.”
Rollins said his daughter has told him many stories about Madonna’s perfectionism and professionalism, as well as other famous people she has met.
“I can’t even put it into words. I’m just elated for her because she’s worked so hard for what she does,” James Rollins said.
The fervor over the Dancing Dolls reached all the way to Southern’s campus Sunday night when some students watched the performance as part of a Super Bowl party in the Royal Cotillion Ballroom of the Smith-Brown Memorial Student Union.
Southern’s Student Government Association posted a blast on Twitter about the Dancing Dolls’ halftime appearance only hours before the game started.
Students slowly trickled in during the first half, eventually filling about 80 seats in the room.
Cheers slowly emerged from the crowd as Madonna was first carried onto the stage by dancers dressed as if they starred in the movie “Troy.”
Once the red-and-white adorned Dancing Dolls popped onto the screen with Madonna, the students erupted in jubilation.
Charissa Carroll, a 20-year-old chemistry and chemical engineering major, watched the performance in the ballroom with Keyandra Hall, a 21-year-old education student.
Both students said they knew some of the dancers, including April Rollins.
“(When they get back), I’ll probably ask them, ‘Did you enjoy it? Was it fun? How was Madonna?’” Carroll said.
Southern Chancellor James Llorens said the Super Bowl halftime show invitation is a testament to the hard work and reputation of both the Dancing Dolls and Southern’s marching band, the Human Jukebox, both nationally and internationally.
“They’re a positive representative for the university, and we’re excited about their talents being recognized,” he said.
http://web.subr.edu/
Posted By: How May I Help You NC
Monday, February 6th 2012 at 1:19PM
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