Young dancers learn from pros

COSTA MESA — Rachel Munro had a tough crowd to please on Saturday: two members of the NFL's Charger Girls and a woman who co-writes songs with Janet Jackson.

Thankfully, though, the audition she attended for the Team OC Dance Company was less cutthroat than a Hollywood tryout. Each of the more than 60 girls who auditioned at the Costa Mesa studio made a team of some kind — and the stars were there to offer guidance, not to show people the door.

That came as a relief for Rachel, who had barely danced at all before she ventured to the studio with two friends after a sleepover.

"My friends Brooke and Ally were doing it and I'm staying at their house, so I decided to come," said Rachel, 12, who lives in Newport Beach.

Team OC, which opened its dance, music, cheer and gymnastics studio in October, has been auditioning girls for its teams ever since and plans to enter its first competition in January. On Saturday, the third tryout session, Charger Girls Summer Alvarez and Lizzy Richardson led dancers of all levels in stretches, neck turns and basic moves to get started. The instructors would later group the dancers into basic, intermediate and advanced squads.

Overseeing it all was a woman with more than a little knowledge of show business. Melanie Andrews, a songwriter and backup singer who has worked with Janet Jackson, Vanessa Williams, Earth, Wind and Fire, and others, serves as the studio's dance and singing director.

Andrews, who previously ran a dance studio in Tarzana, moved to Orange County when Team OC founders Stephanie and Cory Sukert offered her a position. Her old business, she said, prepared her for just about any skill level.

Alvarez, one of several Charger Girls who rotate at the studio, said Team OC hoped to entice the beginners as well.

"We're going to take all the girls who come in today," she said. "We want them to know every kid has a place to be."