Boot Boogie Babes dancing their tailfeathers off for Seahawks
Jan 27, 2015, 7:03 AM | Updated: 1:40 pm
Some 12s show their Seahawks spirit by cheering their heads off at games. Others make signs or wear crazy costumes. But one local team of dancers pulls on their cowboy boots and start steppin.’
The Boot Boogie Babes are a performance dance group based in Seattle.
“We perform all over the Pacific Northwest,” said DeAnna Lee, the team coach and choreographer of the Official 12th Man Line Dance. “We’ve been going to all these fun rallies, teaching everyone [the dance.]”
Lee spoke while the team was filming their latest music video at Kerry Park in Queen Anne.
Lee said the idea for the dance started last season, a few weeks before the playoffs. She drew inspiration from a local DJ, My Boy Skitzo.
“I heard ‘Get Your Hawk On,’ and I said ‘Oh my gosh, this song is rockin!'”
She started matching moves to music.
Lee is from Arkansas and was in for a big football transition when she first moved to Seattle four years ago.
“I get up here and nobody wants to watch college football with me on Saturdays. Everyone is Hawking out on Sundays,” she said, remembering initially missing football in her adopted home. “So I started going and watching Seahawks games with friends. I went to a game at the stadium.”
It didn’t take long for this Southern girl to have Pacific Northwest pride; a 12 was born.
“Don’t make me cry. I’m not going to go Russell Wilson on you. But I really, really love the Seahawks. I think they stand for something,” said Lee.
When Lee and the Boot Boogie Babes went to teach their moves at a local country bar, she said it caught on right away. Soon they posted a video explaining the steps and shared it online.
“We found out that elementary schools were doing it. People at Boeing were dancing it. It was just blowing up everywhere,” said Lee.
“We’ve performed it numerous places throughout the city,” said Katie Conover, who joined the team about four months ago.
For first-timers, there are a few movies that can trip them up.
“I’d say probably the kick-ball-change,” said Conover. “That seems to be where people get a little bit thrown. For people who have never danced, it’s a balance transition.”
The Boot Boogie Babes are filming a new music video with fellow dance group, The Northwest Sweethearts in preparation for Super Bowl XLIX.
Lee said she has one goal for the Boot Boogie Babes. “It’s kind of like that old Coke commercial. I want to teach the world, Seattle, how to do the 12th Man Line Dance.”
But for now, Lee said she’s pumped for the Super Bowl. “I’m with them. I believe. Let’s repeat.”
