Super Bowl XXXIV Pregame Show

Or maybe I should title this page:

"Over 30 hours of rehearsals,
countless changes to the choreography,
4 1/2 minutes of actual dancing on the field,
and a whopping 3 1/2 seconds on TV -- for only 1/3 of us...
But it was fun."

What is this page, you ask?  Well, I had the privilege of being a part of the Super Bowl Pregame Show this year! Yep, that's right.  The theme of the show was Music of the 20th Century. There was a short swing-dance section that I danced in with 12 other dance couples from Atlanta.  We were all also in a country music number.  We were the "specialty" couple dancers and were up front and dead center!  We were a small section of dancers doing something different that the hundreds of other choreographed dancers dancing behind and to the sides of us.  It was...I'm not sure if "fun" fits considering all of the rehearsal time and repeated "hurry up and wait" episodes, but it was definitely interesting, a great experience, and it allowed me to get to know my friend Jennifer as well as other local Swing dancers better.

The costumes we wore were a bit embarrassing. For the swing number, we were in hot pink. (They got rid of the guys' hats for the "real" show). Like I'm sure that people wore hot pink out to swing dance back in the 40s...not! They did stand out and look good from a distance on the field though, so I guess the brightness made sense. For the country number we...well...we looked like cows. (For those of you from the south familiar with the Chick-Fil-A food chain, I'm sure you see the resemblance between us and a Chick-Fil-A ad.) Costumes aside, it was a great experience.

Click on either picture below for a blow-up.

(This picture is courtesy of Jennifer Backity)

(This picture is courtesy of Robin Hite)

There were also a couple hundred other dancers in the show. They were all choreographed. Most of those dancers were high school students, with some college students and adults mixed in. They danced to the sides and behind us during our parts, and they were the entire focus for the other parts of the show including dancing for the main talent, Tina Turner.

NOTE: This page was getting really big and slow to download, so I've broken it up into several smaller pages.  Click on the links below to go to the other pages.

Click on the cameras to go to the pages described...

Pictures I took at the daily rehearsals and at the dress rehearsal at the Georgia Dome, plus a few borrowed pictures that I scanned, including two from the "real" thing...

TV coverage -- several stills taken from videotape, and a few short video clips...

Pictures Caroline Chng took and scanned...

Pictures Scott Stevens took with his digital camera...

(To Frank's home page)