TheLaker Girls are aNational Basketball Association Cheerleading squad that supports theLos Angeles Lakersbasketball team at home games. They also perform at many other events and venues.
Jerry Buss commissioned the Laker Girls in 1979 after he had purchased the Lakers. He believed a basketball game should be entertaining, and he was a big fan ofcollege basketball.[1][2][3] Cheerleaders were not common in the NBA at the time, but Buss ordered the formation of the squad—a team of top female dancers who were as talented as they were sexy—as part of his vision forShowtime.[1][3][4] "I thought the game itself was fantastic, but the ambiance was really kind of dead. It was quiet and boring, and so I thought what I'd like to do is spice it up with having some dancers," he explained.[5]
The Laker Girls are a semi-professional squad and members hold regular day jobs ranging from professional dancers to waitresses and university professors. The squad typically performs about 30 routines over the course of the season.[5][6] They are also local ambassadors for the Lakers organization and local advocates forfemale empowerment in the Los Angeles area.[citation needed]
The Laker Girls hold auditions in July of every year. Each current member of the squad must also audition to keep her place on the team.[7] Each woman auditioning must come with a resume of her previous jobs. Each candidate must come prepared with her own routine and is taught two routines to perform for the current Laker Girls and other judges.[citation needed] Dance skills are the main criterion on which they are judged, but personality, style, and teamwork are also important.[5][6]
Laker GirlPaula Abdul was discovered byThe Jacksons, who hired her to choreograph the music video for the song "Torture".[8] This led to her doing the choreography for the band's Victory Tour, and Abdul became a notable music video choreographer for other artists before launching a successful career as singer.[9] Abdul's success has given an extra prestige to being a Laker Girl.[6]
A television movie namedLaker Girls,[10] starringTina Yothers (from TV'sFamily Ties) andAlexandra Paul (Baywatch) aired in 1990, detailing the fictional tribulations of a trio of acolytes trying out to become members of the cheer leading troupe.
Many former Laker Girl cheerleaders have gone on to achieve success in entertainment and other notable occupation. They include:
Media related toLaker Girls at Wikimedia Commons