a. 5.

2 Cheer Dance

CHEER DANCE

"A good cheerleader is not measured by the height of her jumps but
by the span of her spirit." - Unknown

Cheer dance is relatively new in the field of sports and dance as it has
only emerged during the early 1990's as part of cheerleading events. It is
one of the categories in International Cheerleading Competition that
focuses on dance techniques and basic elements of cheerleading,
excluding stunts and advance gymnastics skills. The performers are
cheerleaders and not just dancers per se.
To better understand the foundations of cheer dance, it is vital to first learn
the fundamental aspects of cheerleading.

Cheerleading is an event that consists of cheers an organized

routines for sports team motivation, audience entertainment, or
competition. The routines contain many components of cheers, jumps,
dance, gymnastics, and stunting. The purpose is to encourage the
spectators of events to cheer for sports teams and games. The yellers,
dancers and athletes involved in cheerleading are
called cheerleaders. When they are grouped together as one, they are
called a squad.

HISTORY OF CHEERLEADING
Cheerleading history is linked closely to the United States history of sports,
its sporting venues, as well as the historical development of overall crowd
participation at many athletic events (History of Cheerleading, 2015).
However, its origins can be traced as far back as the late 19th
century where in 1860's s, students from Great Britain began to cheer and
chant in unison for their favorite athletes at sporting events. This event
eventually reached and influenced America (Timeline of Cheerleading ,
2012)
In the late 1880's, the first organized recorded yell done in locomotive style was
performed in an American campus and was first seen and heard during a college
football game. However, organized all-male cheerleading only transpired when Thomas
Peebles, one of the graduates of Princeton University, brought the yell and the football
sport to the University of Minnesota in 1884. It was through the initiative of Johnny
Campbell, who was a student of the University of Minnesota, that cheerleading officially
began in November 2, 1898.

Cheerleading for the first 25 years was an all-male activity. It was only during the 1920s
when women cheerleaders participated in cheerleading. A lot had happened then in the
world of cheerleading in America.