The Laker Girls are a

National Basketball Association Cheerleading The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a List of basketball leagues, professional basketball league with teams in the United States and Canada. Nearly every team, with one exception, has a squad of dancers for cheerleading that are usually in ...

squad that supports the

Los Angeles Lakers The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Lakers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. The Lakers play their ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

team in home matches. They also perform at many other events and venues.

Jerry Buss Gerald Hatten Buss (January 27, 1933 – February 18, 2013) was an American businessman, investor, chemist, and philanthropist. He was the majority owner of the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA), winning 10 l ...

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 of

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

. 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 for

Showtime Showtime or Show Time may refer to: Film * ''Showtime'' (film), a 2002 American action/comedy film * ''Showtime'' (video), a 1995 live concert video by Blur Television Networks and channels * Showtime Networks, a division of Paramount Global w ...

. "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. The Laker Girls are a semi-professional squad and members hold regular day jobs ranging from professional dancers to waitresses to university professors. The squad typically performs about 30 routines over the course of the season. They are also local ambassadors for the Lakers organization, and local advocates for

female empowerment Women's empowerment (or female empowerment) may be defined in several ways, including accepting women's viewpoints, making an effort to seek them and raising the status of women through education, awareness, literacy, and training.Kabeer, Naila ...

in the Los Angeles area. 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. Each woman auditioning must come with a resume of their previous jobs. It is required that each prospective candidate comes prepared with her own routine and is taught two routines to perform for the current Laker Girls as well as some judges. Dance skills are the main criterion on which they are judged, but personality, style, and teamwork are also important. It was as a Laker Girl that

Paula Abdul Paula Julie Abdul (born June 19, 1962) is an American singer, dancer, choreographer, actress, and television personality. She began her career as a cheerleader for the Los Angeles Lakers at the age of 18 and later became the head choreograph ...

was "discovered" by the group

The Jacksons The Jackson 5 (sometimes stylized as the Jackson 5ive, also known as the Jacksons) are an American pop band composed of members of the Jackson family. The group was founded in 1964 in Gary, Indiana, and for most o ...

, in which she was hired by them to choreograph the music video for the song "

Torture Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons such as punishment, extracting a confession, interrogation for information, or intimidating third parties. Some definitions are restricted to acts c ...

". This led to her doing the choreography for their Victory Tour, as well as other chances to do the choreography for other music videos. Abdul's success has given an extra prestige to being a Laker Girl. A television movie named ''Laker Girls'', starring

Tina Yothers Kristina Louise Yothers is an American actress and singer. Beginning a career as a child actor at the age of three, she is best known for her role as Jennifer Keaton on the hit NBC series ''Family Ties'', as well as for her roles in numerous t ...

(from TV's ''

Family Ties ''Family Ties'' is an American sitcom television series that aired on NBC for seven seasons, premiering on September 22, 1982, and concluding on May 14, 1989. The series, created by Gary David Goldberg, reflected the move in the United States ...

'') and

Alexandra Paul Alexandra Elizabeth Paul (born July 29, 1963) is an American actress, activist, health coach, and former model. Paul began her career modeling in New York before landing her first major role in John Carpenter's horror film ''Christine'' (1983). ...

(''

Baywatch ''Baywatch'' is an American action drama television series about lifeguards who patrol the beaches of Los Angeles County, California, and Hawaii, starring David Hasselhoff. It was created by Michael Berk, Douglas Schwartz, and Gregory J. Bo ...

'') aired in 1990, detailing the fictional tribulations of a trio of acolytes trying out to become members of the cheer leading troupe.

Notable former cheerleaders

Lisa Joann Thompson Lisa Joann Thompson (born April 22, 1969) is an American dancer, choreographer, actress, and model involved in multiple areas of show business. She was a Warrior Girl, Laker Girl, Fly Girl, Motown Live Dancer, and Backup dancer to some of th ...

(choreographer) *

Tina Landon Tina Landon (born January 6, 1963) is an American choreographer based in Los Angeles who has worked with Prince, Anastacia, Mýa, Pink, Jay-Z, Marc Anthony, Kristi Yamaguchi, Aerosmith, Jennifer Lopez, Christina Aguilera, Ricky Martin, Janet Jack ...

(choreographer) * Emily Harper (actress) *

Moon Bloodgood Korinna Moon Bloodgood (born September 20, 1975) is an American actress and model, known for her role as Lt. Blair Williams in the 2009 film ''Terminator Salvation'' and as Anne Glass in the TNT television series '' Falling Skies''. Early life ...

(actress) * Vanessa Curry (dancer) * Taylour Paige (dancer) *

Carmella Carmella is a female given name. Notable people with the name include: People * Carmella DeCesare Carmella Danielle DeCesare Garcia (born July 1, 1982) is an American model who was ''Playboy'' magazine's Miss April 2003 and Playmate of t ...

(wrestler) * Natasha Martinez (TV host) *

Shelby Rabara Shelby Ann Narito Rabara Shum (née Rabara; born October 5, 1983) is an American actress and dancer who has appeared in a number of films, television series and commercials as both an actress and a dancer. Rabara is known for providing the voice ...

(actress) *

Anne Fletcher Anne Fletcher (born May 1, 1966) is an American choreographer, film director, dancer and actress. She directed the films '' Step Up'' (2006), ''27 Dresses'' (2008) and ''The Proposal (2009 film), The Proposal'' (2009). Early life Born Anne Marie ...

(actress, director)

References

External links

*
Laker Girls web site
(NBA.com) * * {{Los Angeles Lakers Los Angeles Lakers National Basketball Association cheerleading squads Dance in California History of women in California