Redskins' cheerleaders shake up Bangalore
Emily Wax of the Washington Post writes about the impact of the 12 cheerleaders from the Washington Redskins on the opening day of the Indian Premier League
ESPNcricinfo staff
25-Feb-2013
Emily Wax of the Washington Post writes about the impact of the 12 cheerleaders from the Washington Redskins on the opening day of the Indian Premier League. The girls have been brought to Bangalore by Vijay Mallya, the owner of the Royal Challengers, and are training an all-Indian cheerleading squad.
In white go-go boots, yellow spangled short shorts and bikini tops, they pompomed their way onto the field, bursting right through local notions of modesty. The result was something that few in this cricket-obsessed nation thought possible: tens of thousands of male cricket fans finding it hard to keep their eyes on the game.
She continues …
The Redskins cheer choreographer, Donald Wells, said the Indian cheerleaders he's working with are already adept at shaking their hips and staying on the beat. He noticed that Indian cheerleaders were very expressive with their hands -- Indian classical dance has countless hand motions -- and joked that they probably wouldn't need pompoms.
"The Indian girls who tried out so far were so beautiful and so good, they were practically better than us," said Sharica Brown, 27, a Redskins cheerleader from Baltimore, as she snacked on a plate of nachos before the game at Bangalore's Hard Rock Cafe.
Ashok Ganguly is an editorial assistant at Cricinfo