Since 1959, the talent of the Golden Band from Tiger Land has been supplemented with a certain poise and grace from a choreographed line of smiling women.During half a century of gameday performances, the Golden Girls have developed a unique style drawn from classic dance genres and improved by dedication.That dedication will culminate at the end of October during the LSU-Tulane game with almost 200 current and former Golden Girls marching with the band to celebrate the line’s 50th anniversary.  This year the line is 14 Girls strong. It consists of women from across the campus spectrum. Most are Louisiana natives, but the line even draws from out of state.Elizabeth Maier, senior Golden Girl and a Georgia native, said she danced with Golden Girl alumni when she was young.When choosing a college, she said she looked for a big football school with a strong reputation for dance.”I wanted to be part of something rich in tradition that had already been established,” Maier said.  For many of the women, the chance to dance in the line is the result of a lifelong admiration and desire for a Louisiana tradition.”I just remember the first game my dad brought me to. I saw them and said, ‘That’s what I want to be in college,'” said Alexandra Carter, freshman Golden Girl. “They were so beautiful, and I loved the way they danced.” All of this year’s girls have spent most of their lives dancing, said Linda Moorhouse, associate director of bands and director of the Golden Girls.”Just because you have studio training doesn’t mean you’re going to be a good dancer, but it does mean you’ll have a basic skill set,” said Moorhouse. “If you understand the language, you’re more apt to be comfortable.”Moorhouse said women without studio training probably wouldn’t make the team.MAKING THE LINETryouts for the line start in the spring. For a freshman candidate, it’s often her first University experience.From 7 a.m. to about 8:30 p.m., potential Golden Girls go through an intense and stressful day of dance routines and constant judging.Each woman is expected to arrive with a solo routine meant to showcase her individual dance skills, Moorhouse said. The candidates remaining after first cuts spend the rest of the day learning a group routine based on traditional Golden Girl style.”The sharp movements aren’t so hard to pick up, but with everything having to be so precise and everything looking the exact same, it takes a lot of extra work,” said Danielle Hardy, junior Golden Girl. The number of women at tryouts varies from year to year, but there are generally between 60 to 90 candidates, including veteran Golden Girls who must reclaim a position on the team every year.”When I come back, I know my spot isn’t guaranteed, and I’m competing against every girl in that row,” said Hardy, who has been on the line for three years. “I’m always just as nervous as I was my first year.”Maier said coming back for her second year was harder than her first tryout because she knew the incoming freshmen were gunning for her spot. She said she has seen girls cut from the line every year to make way for fresh talent.Potential Golden Girls are weighed and measured before tryouts begin.The measurements are taken to put women into costumes immediately after making the line, said Pam Matassa, a Golden Girl from 1991-94 and a judge for new lines.There is no weight or hair color requirement, but personal appearance is an important factor in choosing a line, Moorhouse said. “One can infer that you need to have a toned body because of what you’re asked to wear,” Moorhouse said. “Our girls are in shape — they have athletes’ bodies.”Moorhouse said each Golden Girl is asked to maintain the weight she had on audition day throughout the year.The women generally live healthy lifestyles and exercise regularly, Hardy said. She said once she developed a routine it wasn’t difficult to keep fit.   Hardy said people sometimes have the misconception the Girls are chosen based on height or weight but said they are weighed a couple of times each month “to keep them on track.” Moorhouse said many of the women who don’t make the line after one tryout will study at Tari’s School of Dance, a local dance studio operated by former Golden Girl Tari Smith.Smith has trained between 40 and 60 women who eventually made the line, Moorhouse said.THE REUNIONTiger Band reunites for the LSU-Tulane game every year, but this season’s reunion will bring together nearly 200 Golden Girls from across the years.Matassa said the reunion organizers hoped to get at least 100 girls on the field, but the efforts have been at least twice that successful.”It will be a logistical nightmare to fit all the Golden Girls on the field because there will be so many,” Matassa said. “But we’re going to do it.”Matassa said one of the difficulties was designing a costume that both 20-year-old and 70-year-old Golden Girls would wear.The design will feature a white tank top over a sheer white top with a purple velvet skort and nude colored shoes.The women will be performing the traditional “Hey Fighting Tigers” routine the Golden Girls have performed for years.”We’re going to make all these women proud of the work they’ve put in for all those years,” Maier said.Karen White, who danced on the original line in 1959 and 1960, said she is learning the hand movements and kicks for the Oct. 31 reunion.She said the line has changed significantly since she was in school, becoming a more professional and uniform team.White said she and many of the women she danced with were not classically trained.”Golden Girl routines have become a lot more like Las Vegas — they’ve become very professional, which was always the intention,” White said. “We just did it because we enjoyed it, and it was really a lot of fun.”White said when she danced on the line, she danced to Broadway-style routines as a unit. She said she remembers doing the hula and the can-can during games.Though some Golden Girls have gone on to dance professionally, Moorhouse said most continue on into a professional life based on studies while at the University.Matassa said she still dances with the Baton Rouge Ballet because she always loved dancing, but she also served as a television news anchor and director and as Louisiana’s deputy secretary of state in 2002.”One of the reasons I’ve had such poise and grace under pressure can be pointed to when I was a Golden Girl,” Matassa said. “Most of these girls are type-A personalities who are going to be as successful as they can be in life.” – – – -Contact Adam Duvernay at [email protected]