A PRO CHEER PODCAST
TRAINING & PREP
Build your skills. Build your stamina. Build your confidence.
Preparing for a professional cheer or dance audition is about more than learning choreography. Use the months before auditions to strengthen your technique, improve your performance quality and get comfortable learning and performing under pressure.
Training expectations vary by team. Always start with the current requirements and guidance from the program you plan to audition for.
START WITH THE TEAM’S OFFICIAL PREP OPPORTUNITIES
Learn from the program whenever you can.
Many professional cheer and dance programs offer prep classes, workshops, clinics or intensives designed for prospective candidates.
These opportunities can give you valuable exposure to the team’s current style, choreography and expectations while helping you understand what the audition process may look like.
TRAIN FOR PERFORMANCE DEMANDS
Prepare your body to perform with energy and control.
Audition days can be physically demanding. Build conditioning into your training so you can maintain strong technique, performance quality and focus even as you get tired.
BUILD YOUR ENDURANCE
□ Include cardiovascular conditioning in your training
□ Build strength to support controlled, powerful movement
□ Practice choreography full-out, not only marked
□ Train through longer combinations and repeated run-throughs
□ Gradually increase your stamina as audition day approaches
PRIORITIZE RECOVERY
□ Give your body adequate rest between demanding sessions
□ Stay hydrated throughout your training
□ Fuel consistently to support your activity level
□ Include mobility and recovery work in your routine
□ Pay attention to fatigue, soreness and signs you need more recovery
BUILD A STRONG DANCE FOUNDATION
Train beyond a single routine.
Professional cheer and dance programs vary in style, so there isn’t one combination of skills that applies to every audition. Consistent dance training can help you develop the technique, versatility and confidence needed to adapt to different choreography and performance expectations.
TECHNIQUE
Continue developing strong fundamentals and clean, controlled movement.
VERSATILITY
PERFORMANCE QUALITY
Challenge yourself with different styles of choreography rather than training only in the style that feels most comfortable.
Practice projecting confidence, energy and personality while maintaining strong technique.
STRENGTHEN YOUR CHOREOGRAPHY RETENTION
Train yourself to learn, retain and perform quickly.
Auditions may require you to learn choreography in a limited amount of time. Practice picking up combinations efficiently, retaining details and performing confidently without relying on repeated instruction.
□ I can pick up choreography without needing repeated instruction
□ I retain details from one run-through to the next
□ I practice performing full-out while remembering choreography
□ I can recover and keep going if I make a mistake
□ I challenge myself to learn combinations at a realistic pace