To be able to attend the Orange Bowl, Hartman said, the troupe held various fundraisers, including a Yankee Candle sale, a jewelry sale and clothing drive. For every pound of clothing the girls brought in for donation, the company donated money toward their trip. The clothing was then sent to impoverished countries overseas.
\nThe group of 11- to 18-year-olds learned in March 2008 that they’d be performing during the bowl’s halftime show along with 19 other dance troupes from around the country.<\/p>\n
A recruiter for Bowl Games America, the company hired by the Orange Bowl Committee to select dance, drill and cheer teams for the halftime show, brought the CATS on board after seeing them perform at a national dance competition in Dallas.<\/p>\n
The 13-member troupe will perform in front of more than 70,000 fans at Land Shark Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla., on Tuesday. The game has the U of I pitted against Georgia Tech.<\/p>\n
The CATS will perform a dance by hip-hop choreographer Shane Sparks, while Kool & The Gang headline the Seminole Hard Rock Orange Bowl Halftime Show with hit songs like “Celebration.”<\/p>\n
“The girls work so hard every day and they’re such a small, elite group. It’s like, ‘Wow!’ Someone realized they’re good and that this is something they truly love,” said Annette Peterson, 45, of Runnells. Her daughter, Rebecca, 13, is on the team. “These girls have worked all their life dancing, and now they’ll be in front of millions of people.”<\/p>\n
The girls practice for two hours every Thursday and a couple of hours on Sundays. Some also take ballet and dance on competition teams for other dance studios and high schools.<\/p>\n