The Raptors Dance Pak Leading Lady

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Oh the Ladies of the Toronto Raptors Dance Pak, how every male and female adores you. Stunning young women with electrifying dance moves that can even be appreciated from the nose bleeds of the Air Canada Center. As memorizing as they are, these graceful dancers are not without a leader, a seasoned Pak dancer herself, Amberley Waddell.

Always a team leader, a dancer and a beautiful woman herself, this is Waddell’s first year as the permanent Choreographer for the Toronto Raptors Dance Pak. Last year Waddell accepted the request to come on board from the current Choreographer at that time, as she was leaving for maternity leave. After teaching the Pak for a short Interim period, the Toronto Raptors asked Waddell to come back and train the girls permanently.

At 26 years old she has now been dancing her heart out since the age of 7. As a young child she attended all of her brother’s hockey games, along with the other player’s younger sisters. It was there where the spark of dance emerged for her. After hearing the tales of the other girls, and how much they loved to dance she wanted to try it out for herself.

She began by taking a few classes in Jazz, but her true love for dance did not happen until the end of her first year. When Waddell performed at the Center Square in front of an audience and on a stage she felt a passion that she had never felt before.

“I love being able to perform artistically and put on a show. I feel more comfortable on a stage then anywhere else in the world.”

After Realizing this is what she wanted to do, and being a very competitive person, she dove right into her new found love. Taking more Jazz classes, as well as ballet, her teacher saw potential in her and decided to place her in competition classes. Always wanting to be the best at everything, Waddell would be dancing from 3:30 pm until 10:30pm every day of the week. At age 11 she won the Petite Miss Dance of Canada, she then competed all over North America, appearing in commercials and on television.

Realizing she wanted to Dance as a profession, at 19 she auditioned for the Toronto Raptors. She danced from 2003 until 2006 for the Pak and at the same time was still dancing away on other projects. She was completing more film, television and commercial work here in Toronto, while working for The Canadian forces and The US Naval dance shows where she traveled to Japan, Trinidad, The Persian golf and Dubai among other places.

Waddell decided to go out to LA for a week and try a class there, within that one week she was spotted and offered a job. She then finished her season with the Toronto Raptors and moved to LA. Since then she has danced on The Oprah Winfrey Show, Entertainment Tonight, The View, The Today Show, Hancock the movie as Charlize Theron’s double, The TV Land awards, and most recently Bette Midler’s Show “The Show Girl Must Go On.”

“You have to keep positive if you want to be in the entertainment industry because you are constantly hustling to book another job, tour and auditioning. It can be really hard, you have to stay positive and comfortable with yourself, as well as strong on your own. Think to yourself I am going to get this job and if I don’t there is something else out there for me.”

Waddell loves to be creative, and share what she has learned, that is why she loves teaching the Toronto Raptors Dance Pak. After loving her experience so much on the Pak, she kept in touch with the team all these years. So when an opening appeared she was immediately approached.

“I love being able to create, use my mind and come up with different routines for the Toronto Raptors.”

Waddell along with her boss and a few individuals from game operations hold the auditions for the Pak. Each year hundreds of girls show up, but only 12 to 14 are chosen. The selection process takes all day and is very difficult.

“The girls come out in groups of 4 or 5, and we ask them to perform a 3 to 8 count, that is a mixture of Jazz and hip hop. Then we will do a cut and ask certain girls to stay, adding in another routine. We throw in some technical elements to see there level of dance, then another cut. When we are down to 20 we do one on one interviews and talk to the girls to get an idea on their personalities.”

Waddell explains making the pak it is not only about the ladies dance skills, but a big part is their personality.

“You need someone with an outgoing high energy personality. The girls have to keep the crowed up beat and extremely excited during the breaks and that’s not an easy job to do.”

With 13 girls on the squad this year, they rehearse two to three times a week, plus the games. Waddell teaches the girls Jazz and Hip Hop and also recommends to the girls that they continue to take classes. She herself takes classes still because it broadens her knowledge of dance, allows her to stay in shape and makes her a better dancer.

“I love being able to be creative, choreograph and work with the team. I love teaching the Pak, a lot of the girls are younger and they have great energy. Not only am I teaching them but expanding on their dance ability and showing them what they need to do to make it.”

Waddell explains that this industry is hard because it is nothing like a normal 9 to 5 job.

“You don’t get to chose to write a proposal one day and do work from your desk. I have to wake up in the morning and choose to get up and go to that audition, it is somewhat like being an entrepreneur. You must put one hundred and ten percent in to make it, you have to want it and you’ve got to have tough skin.”

Waddell recently returned from a project and after being away for three weeks from the girls, she was blown away by their performance. Attending one of the latest games and seeing her Pak out there performing their hearts out filled her with Pride. Although always planning on dancing, she most certainly knows now that there is no better feelingthan teaching and sharing the gift of dance with others and will continue on teaching the Toronto Raptors Dance Pak for quite some time.

- Briony Douglas -