Hannie Dong: One, two, three, four,
five, six, seven, eight.
One, two, three, four,
five, six, seven, eight.
Sabrina Ellison: Are you going to get there Jess?
Yeah, let's try it, holy moly, sheesh.
Hannie: People only see the final product,
but they definitely don't see all the hard work
that goes into it.
Hi, my name is Hannie.
I'm a fifth-year veteran and one of the team captains
on the Warriors dance team.
Come on in.
These are the rings from back-to-back championships.
In addition to the team members getting their rings
after a championship, employees such as ourselves,
like part-timers, we get rings as well.
I feel like it became more difficult
after the Warriors started winning championships,
just because it's, like, the place to be.
When I first tried out,
it was, like, almost 200 girls,
and it's such an intense process.
I remember, like, it was three months long.
Yeah, definitely very competitive.
Dance is such an integral part of my identity
just because I've been doing it
since I was 7 1/2.
Just trying to figure out
how to continue it after college,
and that's when I decided
to join the Warriors dance team.
The Warriors, they were doing so well,
I just decided to try out and audition for the team.
Four years later, now we're here.
Four, five, six, seven, eight, one.
Sabrina: We really are thoughtful
about all of our teams,
but especially this squad
because they're at a majority of the games,
and so we're looking for great dancers,
but most importantly great character.
The audition process is a little bit longer.
They learn a jazz routine as the first cut,
to the second cut, which is hip-hop,
because we do a variety of styles
when they dance for the Warriors.
And then from there,
we take a group of dancers to the finals,
where they go through a weeklong process,
from interviews, which, to me,
is the essential ingredient to picking a dancer,
and then boot camp, where they do,
you know, workouts and fitness assessments
and then really kind of hone in
on those routines and talk about the cleans
and how to figure out how to dance in unison.
We need to really, like, focus in the next couple hours
to make this a routine that's respectable on court.
But if some of you can't hang,
then we'll just dwindle down.
Two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.
One, two, three, four.
Hannie: Today is Monday, and we're currently
at the Warriors rehearsal facility,
practicing and cleaning one of our routines.
We'll begin setting this dance on Wednesday,
which we'll be performing on Thursday at the game.
Cleaning could be tedious
just because the slow moving.
What brings me through cleaning is just, like,
knowing the end product is gonna look flawless.
Cleaning is basically going over every single A count.
So, say, like, my arm is starting from my shoulder
and we're, like, punching down.
She wants to know the level and, like,
where you're, like, ending that movement
from beginning to end.
That's how we're cleaning, from movement to movement.
Dancer: Five, six, seven, eight, and
one, two, three, four,
five, six, seven, eight.
Sabrina: Try it again. Are you guys doing the five?
Five, six, seven, eight.
Go one, two, three, four,
five, six, seven, eight.
Cool, can we now go full out?
It looks clean,
so now give me some energy and life.
Here we go.
Five, six, seven, eight.
One, two, three, four,
five, six, seven, eight.
Hannie: The only time I have to myself
is probably, like, 30 minutes after work
and then maybe when I get home,
which is around midnight.
I am very, very, very exhausted.
I have some Korean-style spicy chicken soup.
Can't wait to eat, it's gonna be great!
In addition to being a Warriors dancer,
I'm also a software developer.
I was a biology major;
I was basically studying to become a doctor.
So, I quickly realized that medicine's not for me
and I had to figure out a way
to bring dance back into my life.
All I need is just a computer.
Cold brew to basically jump-start my mind.
I got myself quick breakfast.
Time to run in, because I have about two minutes
until my next meeting starts.
This entails basically having to have
really good time management.
15 minutes until my next meeting.
Sneak peek into all of my makeup supply.
Please don't judge my makeup skills.
I'm a dancer, not a makeup artist.
The most challenging part of being a Warriors dancer
is definitely just keeping up with the schedule.
So, six hours is the minimum
of creating a one-minute dance.
People only see the final product,
but they definitely don't see
all the hard work that goes into it.
Seven, eight.
One, two, three, four,
five, six, seven...
All they see is the glitz and the glam,
like, the final product,
but they don't see the amount of hours,
the sweat, the tears that actually
go into every single dance.
Actually, the past few seasons,
we've had a lot of injuries on the team.
I injured my quadricep a few weeks ago
to the point where I wasn't able to walk
and I wasn't able to dance.
I actually injured my neck as well
to the point where my fingers were tingling.
Painful.
It does not feel good,
but I know that it will help me maintain my body.
Sabrina: That's not my favorite part,
but, yeah, it comes with the territory.
Sabrina: No.
A way a dancer comes in
is the way we want them to stay for the season.
Just so it's fair, you know?
We pick them based on what they showcase,
how they show up at auditions,
and when we select them,
that's how we want them to maintain for the season.
Hannie: Here, you can help me pack
for my game today, actually.
The bracelet is very important.
We wear it for every single game.
Getting these bracelets are, like, a rite of passage
that you officially join the Warriors dance team.
Looks like I have a broken fan in here.
[laughs]
They were very hard to dance with.
You, like, hold on to them too tight,
you would break it.
If you, like, go like that too hard,
you would break it.
With adrenaline, it was very hard to control, like,
the amount of strength we were putting into it,
so we broke a lot of fans.
It ended with, like, my leg in the air.
Like, I remember I had to do a turnaround
and then pose with my leg up
and hold that pose, which was a little bit stressful,
but thankfully, my previous dance training,
like, all we did were leg holds for minutes and days,
so thankfully trained to do that.
Something that I do miss
dancing with though are poms.
Especially during intros, when all the fireworks
and the pyros going off.
Something that I've experienced in the past
when I first joined the team
would be someone, like, touching my bottom,
and it was very uncomfortable
because I was like, that is not something for you,
like, this is my body, you shouldn't be crossing
any boundaries or lines.
Actually, the moment we stepped out of the locker room,
we would just have our hands behind our backs
so it would be completely covering our bottoms.
So it's something that we have
experienced, like, as a team.
We'd have, like, precautionary measures.
Interns at events who would make sure
that no one would be out of line.
Because we wanted to really rebrand ourselves
as dancers rather than as cheerleaders,
we took away the poms this year.
Sweet.
Done packing, now I'm game-day ready.
I'm driving into the Chase Center.
Yay, now I'm here.
The valet is coming out.
Gonna give me a ticket, and it's time to go in.
Do you like my lipstick? [laughs]
So, I don't have to spend any of my money
in terms of supporting my job.
They pay for us hourly,
they give us funds in order to have our nails done,
to get a gym membership.
Yeah, we get food every time, it's pretty good.
Sometimes pizza, sometimes chicken.
One, two, three, four,
go five, six, seven, eight.
One, two, three, four,
five, six, seven, eight, go.
[cheering]
[buzzer]
Feeding off of each other's energy
is indescribable.
Dancing's all about, like, staying into character,
having that attention,
and just, like, absolutely laying it all on the floor.
I feel like the best part about being out there
is just, like, yelling on the court.
"Ay," like, "let's get it, let's go,"
and just, like, feeding off of that energy
and knowing that everyone's, like, on the same page,
that we're all here together.
I love that feeling so much.
Will you get her tights really quick?
Dancer: This happens every time.
I've gone through, like, three pairs of pants. [laughs]
Hannie: Given the world's current situation
with the COVID-19,
the NBA decided to postpone
the rest of the regular season.
I miss performing for all the fans.
I miss being on that court,
being able to tell a story.
So, when this is over,
definitely plan on coming back.