The marquee outside of the Bass Performance Hall signifies the March 4, 2009 performance of the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders Family and Friends Show in Fort Worth, TX.

Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders are without rivals. Nope, not even the Laker Girls are worthy.

Their image is iconic. Their appearance supersedes the so-called "dated" look. Their stage presence is immaculate.

The DCC remain the visionaries of professional cheerleading. They evoke standards unmatched by other pro squads. Their reality tv show is a fantastic promotional device, but to uncover their clandestine personna will forever remain elusive and mysterious.

Now that the Family and Friends Show has gone public, I have a simple solution.

Just enjoy who they are.

by Orlan H. Ree, Jr.

oree@cheertimes.com

FORT WORTH, TX -- For Kelli Finglass, Director of the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, she had many more reasons to be stressed out without having to think about the Cowboys releasing mood ring wideout Terrell Owens on the same day as the 26th Annual Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders Family and Friends Show.

For the first time ever, the DCC invited the general public to attend what used to be an invitation only event held just for parents, grandparents, siblings, and friends.

Suddenly, the pressure to perform well was significantly magnified, akin to that of taking the field to perform at the season's first home football game.

As such, this year's show was held at the posh Bass Performance Hall in downtown Fort Worth and nearly 1,400 tickets were sold, easily filling up the main floor.

Finglass had reason to be extra nervous. The entire squad had not performed together since the end of the regular season, which for the DCC was the final home game on December 20, 2008. Since the Cowboys did not make the playoffs, the DCC had well over a two-plus month layoff.

For a precision dance squad like the DCC, a two-month layoff has its consequences.

With nearly 30 routines on the agenda for the two-hour show, Tuesday's dress rehearsal was taxing, nearly 14 hours long. DCC choreographers Judy Trammel and Kitty Carter pushed the girls to the limit, and at times struggled to find answers as they collaborated with the girls to figure out how to make the Performance Hall stage work for 36 cheerleaders.

Additional challenges were obvious, like encountering occasional winded performances and ill-synchronized routines afflicting not only rookie DCC'ers but veterans alike.

Perhaps the greatest challenge was execution of the DCC trademark kick line routine. Instead of one, continuous line that everyone is accustomed to seeing on the football field, the kick line had to be split into two lines because of stage dimension limitations. Synchronizing two lines, one behind the other, is not as easy as it looks or sounds.

Even as Trammel sat the squad down at the end of dress rehearsal, just past 11:00 pm, to review her comments and performance critiques, the tired, aching young ladies still

managed to remain upbeat and maintained their stage presence.

On performance night, while the sports world was rocked by the Cowboys football team and its announcement that T.O. was history, you could hardly tell that two-month layoff had an adverse affect.

From the moment the curtain rose, the DCC kicked it into gear and roared through a satisfying overall performance. In fact, only one routine revealed a noticeable timing/out-of-synch issue that only a skilled dance enthusiast might have caught, but Finglass, Trammel, and Carter had to be pleased with the overall execution. The house certainly approved with much applause and shouts of encouragement all evening.

Naturally, as one might guess, this was an emotional night for some of the girls. Not only did this evening pay tribute to the closing of Texas Stadium, but this night was closure for a few cheerleaders.

As the curtain fell to conclude the program, the girls hugged and cried on stage. For Sarah Clay, this was her final performance in a DCC uniform. She and her husband are going to fulfill other dreams in the Middle East and Southeast Africa. This was also the final show for two-year veteran Erica Jenkins. For others, there is the spector of auditions for next year's squad within a few months.

While no one is guaranteed a spot on next year's squad, many hope to return for a chance to wear "the uniform" again, among them Brooke Sorenson, Tobie Percival, rookie Crystal Trevino, Meagan Sharp, Abigail Klein, Kristin Gauthier, and huge fan favorite Jordan Chanley.

From a media perspective, it's always an honor covering the best in the business.

If we were talking about the college scene, the best cheerleading squad is the University of Kentucky. Their skills and presentation are dazzling, always a true pleasure to watch. On the dance side, there are a handful of perrenial elite squads, like Cincinnati, Tennessee, BYU, Memphis, Minnesota, LSU, and Wisconsin.

But when it comes to professional cheerleading squads, the