All-Star Cheerleading Routine Breakdown

Series Summary

Cheerleading was invented by a man in 1898, who first directed a crowd in cheering on the University of Minnesota. Since then, cheerleading has become a popular culture phenomenon and a sport. Cheerleaders began as male, but slowly females, who had few offerings for collegiate-level athletics, dominated the hobby. In the early 1970s, the Dallas Cowgirls changed professional cheerleading into simply dance, removing most of the stunts and tumbling in favor of revealing outfits and choreography. In the early 1980s, cheerleading as a competitive sport became popular, and stunts and gymnastics gained in popularity for high school teams. Now there are many official styles of cheering, both amateur and pro, and local spins.

In this free cheering video series, former national champion cheerleader Mandy Butler teaches you an all-star routine good for sharp motion requirements. Many covers the entire 16 count sequence, marking the back handspring and toe touch. She gives you tips on uniform choreography, staying in count, hand positions, and small touches judges notice. Mandy teaches you count by count, including the high V, forward clasps, low claps, rolling up, and more.

Video Transcript

"So I'm going to show you and all-star motion sequence. It's really good to put into an all-star routine for a competition, especially a regional competition that requires a sharp motion sequence. You can also use this at pep rallies, for school squads or for any sort of competition atmosphere, or show atmosphere for any sort of squad. I'm just going to demo it for you. There's a toe touch and a back handspring in it that I'm just going to mark for you. Five, six, seven, eight. One and two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, up, one. Now when you do this motion sequence, there's a lot of movement with your feet. You go in and out and back and forth so it's easy to get bouncy. Try to stay nice and tight to kind of minimize the amount of bounce so you don't lose that appearance of sharpness. Make sure you keep your elbows nice and locked and your motions are tight and not sloppy and all over the place. I'm going to demo it for you one more time. Five, six, seven, eight. One and two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, one."