ECHS grad offers training for Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders | Lifestyle

El Campo High graduate Melissa Reed Page and the director of the drill team last summer taught young women auditioning for a place on an NFL Texan cheer team. She appears in two episodes of CMT’s Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders: Making The Team, a show that has just completed its 16th season of filming.

“The show airs on CMT and follows the process it takes to audition,” she said. “Hundreds and hundreds of girls attend training camps. I worked with all the girls in the training camp. “

In the first episode, which aired on Friday October 1st, Page offers instructions on the correct stretching and other exercises to successfully get a high kick. She was then invited to return for episode 6, which is slated to air in late October, to help out those who made the cut but were still struggling with the high-kick technique.

“When I was there there were 42 girls (who did the cut),” she said. “I went in and showed them all kinds of stretches.”

Camp and filming for Episode 3 was held at The Star Stadium in Frisco, while Episode 6 was held at a dance studio in Frisco.

The filming of the first episode lasted until after midnight.

“We left after 1am,” she said. “We were in the field and it was a big process. It was a lot of fun to be at this level … they (cheerleaders) are extremely talented. “

This isn’t the first time Page has worked with the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders.

“I’ve come and worked with them for the past three years,” she said.

As a drill team instructor, Page has led the Emerald Belles drill team at Southlake-Carroll Senior High since 1997. When it came to filming the two episodes, Page had prior experience in television and movies since she and the Emerald Belles appeared on America’s Got Talent in 2019.

“It was a little familiar because of all the experience with AGT,” she said.

Page also offered words of encouragement and praise to the women.

“They were all so nervous,” she says. “I told them, ‘Hey, you did.’ I was just trying to be uplifting … to be the side that isn’t critical, but to be a positive teacher. “

Page, the daughter of Lynn Reed and Jack Reed of El Campo, was a Ricebird cheerleader, graduating from El Campo High School in 1988. She graduated from Texas State University with honors in 1993 and was a member of the Texas State Strutter Dance Team and Orchestra Dance Company. She has been recognized by the Texas Dance Educators’ Association as a two-time finalist for Director of the Year and once for the Lifetime Achievement Award. Southlake Style presented her with the 2019 Brian R. Stebbins Award for her impact on the community. She was also the 2020 Chauncey Willingham winner for the Outstanding Dragon Faculty and was named Empowered Woman of the Year Community at the Women Empowered 2021 Luncheon hosted by the Southlake Chamber of Commerce.

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