At nine years old, Lanie Nachlas, 21, decided she would take dance seriously. A few weeks ago, she made it onto the Baltimore Ravens cheer team
Nachlas is a senior accounting major from Brookeville, Maryland. She is also the captain of the University of Maryland dance team.
Her mom put her in dance when she was only two years old and at just nine she decided it was what she wanted to pursue, Nachlas said. This was also the age she started taking it more seriously and started competing. She went from dancing one day a week to dancing for eight hours a day six days a week.
Throughout middle school she spent most of her time either at practice or competitions. Once she got to eighth grade, she decided she wanted to try out for her high school’s pom squad in addition to dancing at her studio, Nachlas said. Once she made it onto the pom squad, she realized her real love is cheering on a team and performing at sporting events.
It was during this time period that Nachlas decided to take her nine year old dreams a step further and set a goal to be a Baltimore Ravens cheerleader. Nachlas’ sister also had dreams of pursuing a dancing career, but unlike Lanie, she went down the musical theater path and is now performing in a musical on a cruise.
In her senior year in high school, Nachlas became the captain of her school’s poms squad. This position allowed her to choreograph the team’s routines, control practices and lead the team.
This was also the time that she was deciding what college to attend and what she was looking for in a future school.
“I feel like everyone makes those lists of what they want in a college and for me it was I really wanted a dance team because it was just such a big part of my life,” said Nachlas.
Nachlas chose to try out for the University of Maryland’s dance team because she knew it would help her to continue pursuing her love for performing at sporting events and spreading team spirit. She has been dancing for UMD since she was a freshman and was the captain this past year.
With her dream of being a cheerleader for her home NFL team, Nachlas wanted to try out this spring to get a feel for the audition process. She was not sure how many years of auditioning it would take to make the team.
Auditions started in February with two virtual rounds separated by a few weeks and finally a final audition day in April in person where they showed their skills and found out if they made the team that night, she said.
“This is definitely an unforgettable moment. I was so nervous . . . there was a period of time when we were waiting and so that was like a waiting game that my nerves were so high, and I saw my number on the list. And like my heart jumped out of my chest. It was so unreal,” Nachlas said.
This spring, Nachlas is graduating from UMD a year early and going on to complete her masters in accounting while cheering for the Ravens.
Twelve years later, Nachlas can look back at the goals of her nine-year-old self knowing that after just one audition season, she reached her dream and she can now call herself a Baltimore Ravens cheerleader.