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Last update - 03:12 12/05/2008 Bring on the cheer By Ariel Rubinsky Tags: Rishon Lezion, Sports  It is afternoon in the large hall of the Kiryat Rishon Community Center, as about 20 high-school girls in tight leotards are practicing acrobatic exercises on the floor. As the music comes on, they break into dance steps that will be integrated into the somersaults and cartwheels. This is what a warm-up session looks like at the Cheer Dance Academy (CDA - Hamerkaz Hayisraeli Le'idud), the only place in Israel that trains girls in cheerleading - which combines dance, acrobatics and calisthenics. Most people know cheerleading from watching U.S. basketball games - the shapely girls fire up the spectators, mostly male, while the players rest. "It's all a matter of stigma," says Yael Brainess, CDA's founder and director. "It's true that cheerleaders suffer from a problematic reputation - everyone immediately thinks about bimbos with pompoms - and we are not like that at all! But stigmas can be changed." Brainess, 33, a lawyer by profession, has been doing calisthenics and different kinds of dance all her life. She has performed dances in both Israel and abroad, and in recent years she has been managing a dance studio in Rishon Lezion. About seven months ago she began redirecting her students toward cheerleading, in keeping with the standards applied abroad. Advertisement Why develop a field that contradicts almost every feminist value that has managed to take root during the past 10 years? Without even batting an eyelash, Brainess responds that it is all connected to the performance's quality and professional level. Moreover, she aims to compete with other cheerleading teams, a popular practice abroad. "I believe that if you produce something impressive and professional, it will distract from the girls' hotpants," Brainess says. "A high-quality performance will silence all the macho remarks and leave the work to stand for itself. "When the field started out in the 1940s in the United States, the aim was to encourage the college basketball teams," she continues, "but over time it developed, to the point that many fans would arrive at the stadium early, in order to watch certain cheerleading teams. Nowadays the field exists in its own right, and the girls train for regional, national and international competitions." So cheerleaders are no longer cheerleading? "Yes and no," says Brainess; she would like to differentiate between those cheerleaders with pompoms or those dressed in boots and cowboy hats, "for whom the emphasis is on show and dances and less on technically complex elements, and the girls who train in cheerleading and create a complex and stunning spectacle that demands lots of practice and high technical standards. "I haven't found an exact translation into Hebrew for cheerleading," she notes, "so, for lack of an alternative, we are called 'me'odedot' [females who encourage], but we are trying to change the image of the field. "Still," she adds, "there is nothing wrong with cheerleading squads firing up the spectators at sporting events. I would be delighted if we were invited to perform. It's nice, it adds interest and color, and it provides the girls with yet another opportunity to accumulate experience in front of an audience. But this is definitely not the main thing; the main goal is to engage in competitions with other groups." And with whom do you compete here in Israel? "We are the first team in Israel. At the moment we don't have any competitors. There are competitions abroad all the time, but so far we haven't reached the professional level required there. I am definitely calling upon other groups to get organized so we will be able to promote cheerleading in Israel." Matching leotards and smiles At the CDA center, more than 20 girls aged between 6 and 17 are training to be cheerleaders. The representative team consists of about 20 girls in sixth to 11th grade. The age difference is essential for the acrobatics exercises, to allow the older girls to hurl the younger ones into the air and to hold them up. Following the warm-up and some pyramid exercises, the representative team takes to the practice floor, smiling and wearing matching leotards. At first they dance to hip-hop music. Then they group into a flower formation. Finally, they form into pyramids, several girls practically fly through the air, do a somersault and are caught by their friends. Backwards somersaults, handsprings, leaps, jazz steps, applause and, for the finale, everyone yells enthusiastically: "CDA." America has come to Rishon Lezion. "All the girls have substantive dance experience. But we had to train them from scratch with regard to acrobatics," relates Emanuel Shadhan, the coordinator of the acrobatics field in the Tel Aviv Maccabi Association, who oversees the cheerleading team's acrobatics. "But this is a matter of personal will and the girls very much want to progress. They have only been working for seven months - and already, they are managing quite a few exercises." Shadhan adds that he is working very hard with them on fitness, especially strength and stamina, sit-ups, stretches and strengthening the back and leg muscles. "To lift another girl or to support her they need to be strong," he explains. "From their background in dancing, they move to a field that contains elements of dance, strength, flexibility and aesthetics - a complex exercise executed to the correct rhythm and in perfect coordination." I've been dancing since I was four years old, but now it's a lot more interesting," says Sapir Argaman, an 11th-grader from Rishon Lezion. "Cheerleading is a combination of things that are usually separate - dance, acrobatics, athletics; it's a lot more interesting than ordinary dance." This combination requires many hours of practice. In addition to Brainess and Shadhan, Arnold Baitz teaches the girls gymnastics. Training sessions are held every day, except Sunday and Saturday. On some days, the cheerleaders even have up to three different training sessions. On the day of our visit, for example, acrobatics practice was followed by a ballet class; later that night the girls went to Tel Aviv's Hadar Yosef athletics stadium for athletics training until 10 P.M. Altogether, they have about 10 classes a week. "It is possible to combine the training with schoolwork and even with the matriculation exams (bagrut)," Argaman says. "It's all a matter of priorities. So you sleep less in the afternoon, you go out less - but if this is what you want, it is possible." Bookmark to del.icio.us   Death of a heroine Irena Sendler, who saved 2,500 Jews during the Holocaust, dies at 98. Apocalyptic tidings Holy See warns of nightmarish perils if Mideast nuclear arms race is not halted.   1.   cant wait to hear miriams response to this one 13:46  |  SJ 12/05/08   2.   Israeli girls in cheerleading outfits, WOW 15:43  |  Judah 12/05/08   3.   to # 29 and 30 17:58  |  S. Baptist American 12/05/08   4.   Bring it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 19:10  |  Ozmond Bell 12/05/08   5.   Cheerleading 07:57  |  Elise Geras 13/05/08   6.   HI 15:18  |  YAEL 13/05/08   7.   IT`S GREAT !!! 15:27  |  HAGIT 13/05/08

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