One hopeful rookie is an orthodontist, while another veteran aspires to live up to a family legacy.
People think what we do is not that hard,” a cheerleader’s voice narrates in the opening scenes of America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders. “But our job is to make it look easy.”
Making it look easy is at the center of everything the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders do, and Greg Whiteley’s (Cheer, Last Chance U) new seven-episode docuseries chronicles just how much work it takes — mentally, physically, spiritually, and emotionally — to make everything as seamless as a 36-person chorus line of high kicks.
Led by longtime director Kelli Finglass and head choreographer Judy Trammell, DCC hopefuls go through a rigorous audition process: Hundreds of skilled dancers apply each year, and both rookies and veterans go through the same audition process each season. From the time of finalist auditions depicted in Episode 1 of the series to the official 2023 team, the number of candidates is whittled down from 76 to 36, and each part of the process feels more cutthroat than the last. Withstanding this amount of pressure and expectation takes an extraordinary amount of talent and presence of mind, and the women in the cast of America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders bring it all to the field — until they’re cut, that is.
“There are certain people that you feel compelled to focus on,” Whiteley says about the women he and his team follow through the series. “You have to trust that instinct
and be open to wherever their story is going to go. We were fully prepared to just keep filming with somebody that didn’t make the team.”
Below, meet the subjects of America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, the rookie and veteran candidates, coaches, and executives who make the dream team come to life, year after star-spangled year.
