The members of the Wheeling Miners arena football team are not the only ones who are preparing for the organization’s home opener on March 10th at Wesbanco Arena.
That’s because the 11 members of the Miners Dance Team AND the children on the youth squad have been practicing for the past several weeks in preparation for Wheeling’s Monday Night Opener against the Spartans of Colorado, and local professional Cassidy Sansone once again will be the dance director.
Sansone, a West Liberty University graduate who owns Dynamic Dance Force in the Greggsville neighborhood of Wheeling, has been involved with charitable events in the area. She’s been involved with the “Dancing with the Ohio Valley Stars” event that benefits the Augusta Levy Learning Center.
Her dance direction for the Miners is something she enjoys because she and other team members have the chance to perform professionally in front of thousands of fans. The Miners, now members of the National Arena League, will host five home games that will honor military members and first responders (April 19th) as well as local coal miners (May 24th), and special promotions will include the “Wizards & Wands” game on May 10th and the “Nightmare on 14th” game the following weekend.
Along with Sansone and her Miners Dance Team, the homer opener will feature the NAL’s GameDay broadcast, and four former Pittsburgh Steelers – Bubby Brister, Louis Lipps, Merril Hoge, and Brian Blankenship – will be present to sign autographs before the game begins. Tickets remain available on the team’s website.
How many dancers will be on the squad to begin the season and what will be the team’s role this season?
There are a total of 11 dancers on the team this season, and their role is to perform and get the crowd excited to cheer on the Miners. Our dancers also try to be mentors and good role models for the younger dancers who we see at the games. Our dance team is so excited for the new season to start.
From what areas of the region do your dancers live, and why is it important to be members of the team?
Some of our dance team members live five minutes away, and some live up to two hours away. We have dancers that go to local colleges, some that are in the military, and some who work 9-to-5 jobs. They live in West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Ohio, so our dance team members travel from all over to be a part of the team.
Most dancers stop dancing when they graduate high school, and we have dancers both in college and out of college. The Lady Miners (team) gives those dancers the opportunity to continue dancing after high school, which is incredible. Being a Lady Miner Dancer means being professional, kind, committed, and hard-working. They are the first people the fans see as they enter Wesbanco Arena for game days.
It is such an honor to be a part of the Lady Miners, and the dance team is such an important part of the Wheeling Miners organization.
Please explain the routines, when they will be performed, and how much practice the team puts in to prepare for the home opener?
For each game, we perform a pre-performance routine and a halftime routine. Our pre-performance routine is to (ACDC’s) “Thunderstruck” which is a perfect way to get fans excited for the start of the game. Our halftime routine normally changes for each game and we often try to match our dance to the theme of the game.
The dancers also perform sideline dances throughout the game, as well, so they are constantly dancing.
Our practices are held at Dynamic Dance Force, which I am the owner of, and the dance team has choreography days where dancers come into the studio and learn the entire routine within about two hours. We started our practices in January to be prepared for the home opener on March 10.
Please tell me about the youth dance team and how they will perform during this season?
This is the first season for the youth dance team, and we are so excited. They will have the opportunity to learn a routine taught by members of the Lady Miners Dance Team and will perform before the game starts. Their practices are held at Dynamic Dance Force, too.
This is such a great opportunity for younger dancers to get a feel for performing in front of larger crowds on a field.
What are your duties as the dance team director?
One of my duties for the Lady Miners Dance Team is to choreograph all their routines. So, that means always finding and cutting new music, creating formations for the routines, and to try and create unique dance moves for each different routine. I want to try and make each routine that they perform different from the last so that we are always staying fresh and up to date with our routines.
Aside from choreographing, I also help to get the dancers involved with things outside of practices and game days. For example, the Lady Miners performed at the Washington Wild Things last season, held a dance clinic with John Marshal High School, and performed at “Everyone’s Got Talent”.
You can also find our dancers at all events that the Miners put on.
Overall, I absolutely love coaching and directing the Miners Dance Team. All of the dancers on the team are so talented, and the Miners organization is really great to be a part of.
