Becoming a Golden Ace takes skill, dedication, a positive attitude and a drive to want to be better for yourself and your team. When the Golden Knights put out the call for applications, more than 300 people applied. About 120 people were invited to auditions, where they were put through multiple rounds of intense workouts, interviews and choreography. From there, 24 people were selected to cheer on the Golden Knights at The Fortress and in our community!

Day One

The first day of auditions started bright and early. The applicants were welcomed and given expectations for the day.

Participants took part in a bootcamp style workout that included planks, burpees, squats, mountain climbers and jumping jacks.

Next up, the group got a refresh on choreography and showed off their skills for the judges before first cuts were made. The remaining participants were invited to callbacks the next day!

Day Two

The second day of auditions started off with group interviews, where applicants were asked about why they wanted to be a Golden Ace. Another round of cuts were made before starting everyones favorite part of the day…

Square dancing! Veteran Aces and new applicants got to know each other while following the calls of Vern Vernazzaro, who has 47 years of experience calling square dancing.

“This is probably the wildest thing I’ve ever done, but they are really a fantastic group of young ladies,” said Vernazzaro. “This is probably something that took a lot of pressure off and made them relax a little bit and enjoy themselves. I really hope it did anyway because I had fun and it sure looked like they were having fun!”

After warming up with Vern, the group went through a final workout and choreography before finding out if they made the team.

A big thank you to everyone who came to auditions and congratulations to our newest Golden Aces!