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Former University Students Join Hawks Dance Team

by Michelle Harding
12/07/2007

The next time you attend an Atlanta Hawks basketball game, be sure to look out for the continuous hair-tossing and booty-shaking coming from the courts. No, it’s not the basketball players, but the girls of the official dance team of the Hawks, the A-town Dancers.

Joining their ranks this year are two of the University of Georgia’s recent graduates, Valerie Barth and Ashley Britt, both 22.

Last year, Britt and Barth served as co-captains of the University of Georgia’s competitive dance team, the Redhotz.

After moving to Atlanta from Athens in July, the girls auditioned for the A-town Dancers. Britt and Barth were selected as two of the top-40 finalists, chosen from over 100 women on the first day of auditions.

The five-day audition process included interviews, fitness tests, intensive dance training and an online public vote. The Thrashers hockey fitness coach, Ray Bear, conducted a rigorous fitness workout and evaluation on the second day of auditions.

“The fitness audition was the hardest thing I’ve ever been through, and I’ve been through a lot of auditions,” Britt said. “It was the most physically grueling thing I’ve ever done. I thought I was going to die.”

Only 18 dancers made the final cut, and they have now begun dancing during halftime at the basketball games. The Atlanta Hawk’s season began on Nov. 2.

The dancers meet three times a week for three-hour practices that include choreography workshops, workouts and Pilates, Britt said.

Barth believes that her leadership position as the captain of the Redhotz has been the main factor that prepared her for the tough life of a paid dancer for the Hawks.

“The Redhotz taught us how to work as a team,” she said. “Dancing requires a lot of encouragement from your teammates, and we needed these skills during our auditions to prove we could work well with others."

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