Courtside Collection: Kimmy Vale and the Cheer Squad Spark

The jump ball draws people to the Cairns Convention Centre.

Kimberley “Kimmy” Vale comes for the moment between the moments, the 30 seconds where the timeout huddle breaks, the crowd is looking for a spark and centre court needs to feel alive.

On Taipans nights, that is where the cheer squad lives.

Kimmy is the manager of the NBL Cairns Taipans Cheerleaders, the dance-driven heartbeat of game-night entertainment alongside the club’s mini squad and other in-arena activations.

And while the scoreboard tells one story, Kimmy and her dancers are tasked with telling another, keep the building up, keep families engaged and keep the Orange Army moving.

“So many little girls come just for the cheerleaders,” Vale says. “Dance is huge in Cairns. It’s such a huge thing to bring in that other side of the crowd.”

Kimmy’s story starts long before the Taipans. It starts at eight-years-old in a studio owned by her mum, Dancescapes, originally known as The June Vale Dancers Cairns.

For more than three decades the studio has been part of Cairns’ dance fabric. It began in the Redlynch community hall and later moved into a boutique space at Barr St Markets.

“Mum has had the studio for about 32 years now,” Vale says. “She built it from scratch and I have just made it a really competitive dance studio. Mum did it more for fun. Now it’s a bit more professional.”

She grew up inside that world, trained in Cairns under her mum June and teacher Leticia Webb, then found herself on a pathway to a brighter stage.

From age 12 to 15 she was accepted into the Australian Ballet School interstate program, travelling to Melbourne for training while still at school. From 15 to 18 she earned a scholarship to the Victorian College of the Arts Secondary School, half-day school and half-day dance, a routine that left little room for anything else.

The next step was always clear.

“I wanted to dance on cruise ships,” she says. “My mum actually danced on cruise ships as well back in the day, so I wanted to follow her.”

At 18 she landed her first professional contract with Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines in 2008 and spent the next four years performing overseas. When she returned to Cairns at 22, she stepped into two worlds at once, teaching at the family studio and entering the Taipans game-night machine.

Her first season with the club was 2012. This season marks her 15th with the Taipans, including 12 years managing the cheerleaders.

“I love being a part of the game nights, it’s so fun,” she says. “Every game to me is so fun and I don’t want to give it up.”

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From Ballet Lines to Centre Court

Cheerleading was not a natural extension of ballet. It was a new language, a different energy and a different type of performance pressure.

“Initially cheerleading was very different to me, I was very balletic,” Vale says. “But as soon as I started I thought this was amazing.”

Part of the shift is spatial. Ballet is typically front-facing, clean and staged. Cheerleading is built for noise, cameras and quick change.

“The main thing I try to incorporate and something I have had to learn over the years is, as a dancer we’re on the stage and directly facing one audience,” she says. “Whereas as a cheerleader we’re on centre court and we’re surrounded 360 degrees.”

That 360-degree demand shapes everything, from formations, spacing, angles and how quickly a group can fill space.

“The film crew are always telling us to face the other way,” Vale laughs. “Formations can get difficult because there are only 10 of us to fill the court in 30 seconds. But it’s fun to overcome those challenges.”

It is also a teaching environment. Many of the dancers on the squad come through her studio.

“Most of the girls on the team are my students,” she says.

“I don't just manage the squad, I dance because performing is who I am. Dance has been my passion for as long as I can remember and sharing the floor with girls I have trained, mentored and grown alongside since they were little is a powerful full-circle moment that means everything to me.”

That connection creates a unique culture. The bond is real, but so is the standard. Kimmy describes herself as a perfectionist and her approach reflects it.

“I’m so strict,” she says. “I try to be so disciplined at the start with their contracts and the way they dress, especially in rehearsals.”

Kimmy is also quick to acknowledge the pathway she inherited. She took over the cheerleaders’ leadership after Jayne Comino, a mentor she admired for the way she ran the group and carried herself in the role.

Before Comino, the program was led by Kath Newton, who remains connected through the mini squad pathway at Dance 2XS, building the next generation in a different lane.

Ask Kimmy what she wants the legacy to be and she does not talk about a signature routine.

“I just hope they keep it at the high standard that it is and keep the professionalism,” she says. “But then again the world is changing and you have to keep evolving to what people want as well.”

Dallas Dreams‍

Kimmy’s biggest influence comes from the most famous cheer squad in sport, the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders.

“Everything,” she says when asked what she admires. “How promoted they are. How it’s become such a big deal.”

For her, the appeal is not just spectacle. It is respect and visibility, the idea that dancers are not background noise, they are part of the show. She believes dance brings a different audience into the building and strengthens the family feel Taipans games are known for.

That influence even filters into the soundtrack.

“Catering the music is really important,” she says. “Finding the balance between modern and classic songs.”

ACDC’s Thunderstruck made its way into routines through that Dallas inspiration.

Controlled Chaos

From the stands it can look effortless. For Vale, it’s the planning, the rehearsal load and the constant adjusting to the flow of the game.

“We’ve rehearsed 20 routines,” she says. “We only have around five timeouts and our introductions at quarter time.”

“It varies, some nights we use five routines, other nights we do two.”

Winning changes the timeout pattern. Coach’s challenges steal minutes. A free-flowing game can swallow entertainment windows before the squad even hits the floor.

That is why rehearsals matter. Kimmy runs two rehearsals a week.

While, auditions are held in July, rehearsals begin in August and this past season she said 37 dancers registered, the most she has seen.

“The auditions are intense,” she says. “Because I want to make sure the girls who audition are ready for the season.”

Parenthood and pressure

Kimmy became a mum in 2020, welcoming her son Noah, and says motherhood has made Taipans nights feel even richer.

“Honestly, it’s been better,” she says. “Seeing him want to be involved in this, watching and talking about the players, he gets excited for game night. It makes it even better because he’s amongst the night.”

“It becomes more of a family night,” she says. “Taipans is about the family game. For me, having my son there is even better.”

If motherhood added warmth, experience added weight. Kimmy says the nerves are stronger now than when she was younger because she understands the expectations and what the role represents.

“The older I get the worse the adrenaline rush of game night is, I get so nervous,” she says. “Now as I am older and more experienced, I understand how important the role is. The expectations are so high and we want to be the best.”

Ask her for the biggest moments and she points to milestones, getting the managing job, playoff runs and the adrenaline charge of overtime.

“Overtimes are always electric,” she says.

And that is the essence of what she does. When the lights hit, the crowd rises and the next timeout arrives, Kimmy is counting beats and scanning angles.

Centre court. Ten dancers. Thirty seconds.

In the moment between the moments, the Taipans Cheerleaders make it matter.

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