Two faculty members at DeSales University will be featured in two episodes of Lifetime’s show Bring It!. The episodes will air Friday, April 24 and Friday, May 1, at 9:00 p.m.
Bring It! features the Dancing Dolls of Jackson, Mississippi, an elite hip-hop majorette dance troupe with girls from ages seven to 17. The series showcases the Dolls and their dedicated moms as they prepare for competitions, parades and other dance events.
John Bell, head of the performing arts division at DeSales, and Tim Cowart, chair of the dance department, were filmed for the episodes in which the young dancers performed and then auditioned for a chance to win a full scholarship to DeSales University.
Said Cowart, “The dance auditions had the Dancing Dolls competing against each other for the chance to earn a scholarship. Overall, it took them a while to adjust to my style of dance, which is much different than what they’re used to, but they worked hard and we all had a great time getting to know one another. John and I were happy to have the opportunity to evaluate these talented dancers and to be able to offer something of significant value to them.”
The episode featuring the girls’ solo-performance auditions airs on Lifetime April 24, with the audition results show airing on May 1. The series is produced by Pilgrim Studios (Craig Piligian and Derek W. Wan are executive producers).
Chris Lehman, also a producer for Pilgrim on Bring It!, is a graduate of the DeSales University television and film program, and suggested the collaboration.
Said Bell, “The entire DeSales Dance Department jumped at the chance to audition the young women of Dancing Dolls. Clearly, they’re very talented, though we were intrigued to see how their skill sets would translate into broader, more traditional genres of dance. We were really impressed at the potential that the auditions revealed. The girls may have been outside their usual wheelhouse, but they totally committed to the opportunity and threw themselves whole-heartedly into the experience.”
About Bring It!
"Bring It!" is produced for Lifetime by Pilgrim Studios. Executive producers for Pilgrim are Craig Piligian and Derek W. Wan. Eli Lehrer, Mary Donahue and Colleen Conway Grogan executive produce the series for Lifetime. Eight one-hour episodes of the series have been ordered for this season.