One of many credos for the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders is that cheerleaders, by their definition, are presupposed to make everybody really feel higher — even once they themselves aren’t feeling significantly cheerful. That appears harmless sufficient, however throughout the seven hours of Netflix’s America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, we see DCC administration weaponize this altruism to inflict a number of harms, from consuming problems and damaged hips to embarrassingly low wages and performances in horrendous temperatures. Now, after watching the sequence, I believe I betterunderstand probably the most dark-sided frauds ever perpetrated on American girls.
The punishing system that creates these picture-perfect performers is constructed on a pyramid of dangerous beliefs, sky-high expectations, regressive magnificence requirements, harmful bodily calls for, seductive however false concepts of sisterhood, and exploitative working situations. All through the present, we witness firsthand habits that’s often solely dropped at mild when somebody decides to blow a whistle on a sorority, a fraternity, or a cult: the kind of manipulation and skewed pondering that’s often by no means mentioned till the traumatic ordeal is over.
Probably the most compelling factor about America’s Sweethearts isn’t that this habits exists. It’s that it’s all caught proudly on digicam.
The seven-episode docuseries facilities on the creation of the 2023 DCC squad. Annually, veteran cheerleaders and rookies check out within the hope of snagging one of many 36 spots. The rule is which you could be a DCC for 5 years however must check out every time, competing with a recent set of youthful, extra athletic, maybe extra proficient newbies.
From the bounce, we’re advised how essential the DCC have been to the Cowboys; the squad is probably simply as well-known because the skilled soccer gamers in terms of model recognition. From calendars to journal spreads to Barbies, the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders are a money-making entity for the billion-dollar group. They’re a enterprise inside a enterprise, one which doesn’t rely on successful seasons as a lot because it does visibility.
Figuring out who makes it and who will get minimize are director Kelli Finglass and her henchwoman and head choreographer Judy Trammell. Kelli and Judy, as they clarify to the digicam, are each DCC alumni appointed by Charlotte Jones, a scion to the ultra-rich household that owns the Cowboys. For the reason that ’90s, Kelli and Judy (however primarily Kelli) have been tasked with turning the DCC into an especially in style, tremendous worthwhile, impossibly healthful and concurrently attractive cheerleading squad. This implies Kelli and Judy should make sure the cheerleaders keep related and fascinating 12 months in and 12 months out.
America’s Sweethearts isn’t the DCC’s first actuality rodeo. Kelli and Judy had been a part of one other DCC sequence, Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making the Group, which started in 2006 and ran for 16 seasons on CMT earlier than transferring to Netflix.
As Kelli and Judy admit, each had been inducted into the DCC in an period when there was much less emphasis on dancing abilities. It’s unclear whether or not their present authority is predicated on real-life expertise or simply handed down from the Jones household. But, they inflict their arbitrary requirements of “professionalism” and “attraction” with a self-righteous confidence.
Just like the guards who ran with an excessive amount of energy within the Stanford Jail Experiment, Kelli and Judy whittle down DCC coaching camp to these 36 spots in typically merciless methods. Their cuts and critiques look extra like hazing than enterprise selections. They’re proven ripping one hopeful’s look after giving her the brunette makeover that they discover so unappealing, selecting aside the grins of girls who utilized on-line, and asking one another “What’s her …? She’s Indian?” when evaluating a South Asian dancer throughout reside auditions.
Some of the pathos-filled examples of that is the unusual ire the 2 appear to harbor towards four-year veteran Victoria Kalina. I say “appear to” as a result of Kelli and Judy by no means say they don’t respect Victoria, however they actually act prefer it. Victoria is, in keeping with DCC lore, the daughter of alumnae Tina Kalina, who Kelli and Judy describe as probably the most alluring cheerleaders ever to placed on the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders uniform. Ostensibly the pair — particularly Kelli — are associates with Tina and can’t be as imply to her daughter as they’re to the ladies whose mothers aren’t former DCCs. In some way this ends in one thing even meaner.
Victoria’s legacy affords her some safety, but additionally yokes her to a nasty scenario that clearly makes her really feel horrible about herself. Kelli and Judy inform Victoria in so many ways in which not solely does her character pale compared to her mom, however that she additionally must shed extra pounds.
“I believe it’s more durable for women to not simply wanna starve themselves,” Victoria says in a confessional, because the digicam exhibits Victoria consuming a lunch that consists of a bowl of watermelon, three or so slices of turkey sandwich meat, and two rice muffins. Victoria and different DCC vets and alums clarify that the uniform they put on, significantly the new pants, are tailor-made to their our bodies and aren’t resized. Which means veterans, particularly four- and five-time returning stalwarts, must maintain their our bodies the identical dimension over the course of years.
When Victoria seems on the uniform, she says, she thinks, “Oh man, I must lose no less than three kilos.” It’s closely indicated that she took day off to get wholesome after a bout with disordered consuming.
All through the season, when Victoria and her cohort aren’t performing to Kelli and Judy’s normal, they ask Victoria and the opposite girls if they’re “fueling” themselves correctly — a vitamin double-speak to ask in the event that they’re consuming. That may cross as real concern if the DCC set these girls up with assets like nutritionists or trainers. Or if Kelli and Judy hadn’t been captured all through the sequence, and in archival footage, haranguing girls about their midsections.
A lot of this fueling, training, criticism, and self-recrimination occurs within the title of a routine known as “Thunderstruck.” All through the sequence, candidates and coaches speak about “Thunderstruck” as if it had been some holy ritual, and as if you’re an alien from a distinct planet in the event you’ve by no means heard of the traditional routine set to a whirling, waa-waaa-ing 1990 AC/DC music. Judy explains time and again that “Thunderstruck” is so difficult that although the DCC attracts the perfect dancers, a lot of them ballet- and jazz-trained, few of them are in a position to carry out “Thunderstruck” to her liking.
To be clear, I’m no dancer and never updated on the nuances of dance, however the strikes in “Thunderstruck” are predominantly fancy prances, physique rolls, and hair tosses, choreographed within the loosier-goosier period of the DCC’s dance requirements. If one can rhythmically undulate from their hips and has sufficient hair to fling, one can carry out the vast majority of “Thunderstruck.”
Judy and Kelli each admit that even at present, their choices are extra concerning the general attraction of a DCC cheerleader than her dancing potential. Regardless of their strict expectations, they continuously, by chance elevate questions on their very own credentials. If routines like “Thunderstruck” are handed down from DCC class to DCC class, then what “choreography” is Judy bringing to the desk? If dancing wasn’t required of her to be a cheerleader, what makes her match to steer now? And additional, what sort of excellence does Kelli possess? Aside from her supernatural potential to make the gorgeous and proficient girls attempting out really feel so odd and wanting.
With Kelly and Judy selecting aside their appearances and stuffing them into shorts that they might have to suit into for 5 years, the DCC — rookies and vets — are seen serving to one another and forming sturdy friendships. They do issues collectively like educate Reece, a rookie and up to date Alabama graduate, what to order at Starbucks since she has by no means ordered from a Starbucks earlier than (she will get a strawberry refresher as a result of she likes strawberries).They’ve prayer circles the place they speak about grace and forgiveness and share tales about dancing as youngsters. All of them present up for every others’ engagement events. Even Victoria is seen taking rookies underneath her wing and instructing them steps. That is the camaraderie and wholesomeness that the group — all the way in which as much as Charlotte Jones, the filthy-rich nepo child Judy and Kelli reply to— loves to speak about on digicam. These lovely, proficient, pleasant girls are the face of the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders. They’re so invaluable.
However this spirit is so totally undercut by the habits of the ladies in cost that you simply surprise if this sisterhood is one thing that exists regardless of administration somewhat than due to it.
Within the remaining two episodes, Sophy, a returning veteran, is a part of an off-camera incident. Throughout the Thanksgiving Recreation, she tells DCC officers and police {that a} cameraman on the sport inappropriately touched her as she was coming onto the sector through the third quarter. The information ultimately reaches Kelli, who’s busy studying DCC reward off her cellphone (Dolly Parton was a shock halftime performer with the squad).
Kelli nearly dismisses it at first, stating that Sophy “is speaking to the correct individuals” and never getting up from her seat. Then, she makes eye contact with the digicam, appears to recollect she’s being filmed, after which asks about how Sophy is. Kelli ultimately pulls Sophy off the sector and asks if she wants water. Nobody from the DCC sits with Sophy as she provides her assertion to the police, and in a title card, the present explains that the police weren’t in a position to pursue the costs.
Probably the most damning materials, although, would possibly come from intensive interviews with Kat Puryear and Caroline Sundvold, two DCC alums who spell out what occurs when your years (a max of 5) with the DCC are performed.
Whereas the pair stay closely concerned within the DCC social world — attending engagement events and alumni occasions — they actually clarify that post-cheerleader life is like falling again to Earth. Caroline, who’s hobbling on a walker or crutches at a few factors within the sequence, explains that 5 years of jump-splitting (a bounce the place you land within the splits) in “Thunderstruck” tore her hips to the purpose of requiring surgical procedure. She additionally wanted foot surgical procedure after her season and was, at the start of the sequence, sharing a studio condo along with her sister Anna Kate, who she inspired to check out for DCC. Caroline, who appears to be wandering in a depressive fog, wonders out loud if her glory days are performed.
Kat, an alum of the identical 12 months, tells the digicam that it’s been arduous to discover a job after DCC. In between making use of for interviews, Kat explains that the pay for a DCC is corresponding to a quick meals employee. Ought to one turn into a DCC, pay is allegedly $15-$20 per hour, $500 per sport day, and as much as $75,000 per 12 months, supplied the cheerleaders benefit from skilled and occasion appearances. The shortage of pay explains why a lot of the girls attempting out for the DCC have day jobs; a few of them are nurses or orthodontists. In the meantime, the Dallas Cowboys group is, in keeping with Sports activities Illustrated, price $9.2 billion and had a 2022 income of $1.05 billion.
One would assume that the DCC, which is so essential to the Dallas Cowboys — as Kelli, Judy, and their boss Charlotte continuously remind us — could be price greater than what they’re being paid. The Dallas Cowboys actually come up with the money for to do it.
Making somebody imagine that belonging to one thing is so essential to their existence that they need to hand over issues that make them comfortable is precisely the form of high quality that the simplest cult leaders possess. As is continually reminding your followers that they’re a part of a “sisterhood” or “household” or “one thing particular,” as Kelli, Judy, and their boss Charlotte additionally prefer to say, all of which apparently outweigh issues like your well being or monetary safety.
The DCC are removed from the one girls within the US advised they need to be honored on the alternative to suit right into a slender and deleterious mould, from pageant queens to sorority rushes to even new moms and ladies on relationship apps, these sorts of sharp, exhausting requirements are de rigueur in American life. Like a pair of DCC scorching pants, it’s all a lure — nevertheless it’s simpler to see when girls are ravenous themselves to suit into unyielding quick shorts.
The pure query is whether or not the starvation, humiliation, low pay, damaged hips, and informal judgment of Kelli and Judy are all price it. Maybe there’s some form of calculus to changing into a Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader that we’re nonetheless not aware of. Possibly there’s one thing there that seven hours couldn’t presumably seize. Or maybe that rationalization is a part of the identical hole fantasy that fuels the DCC.
