Out of the 36 women in the 2023 Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, only 23 of them promised to come back to audition. This is good news for a lot of hopefuls that auditioned that year but sadly didn’t make the team. One of them is Dayton, although being a daughter of a former cheerleader means pressure. Another is dancer Charly who is back for auditions after recovering from a pulmonary embolism. Getting closer to the finish line, she and her fellow rookies have to learn a new dance every week. They join team leaders like Jada, who loves the organization despite the cheerleaders not getting living wages. The wage situation also gets to fellow leader Chandi, who has multiple jobs and problems that takes her to her breaking point.

This documentary series is the successor to CMT’s Making The Team, the former showing clips of the latter. Or at least, it did that during the first season where it shows the two shows’ main difference. The difference is that the CMT lets them wear runny mascara while this show gives them some dignity. But that dignity only exists to a certain extent in an industry that doesn’t pay well, like the dance industry. It’s an industry that some have perceptions with, like the one about them only being cheerleaders to find men. Others think that being a cheerleader is a part time job, only seeing the four hours when they have audiences. Or my own prejudice as a former college level cheerleader thinking that they’re pom pom girls. But as coach Kelly Finglass says, it’s harder to get into this team than in Ivy League schools.

America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders dispels even my own subconscious prejudices against these women with backgrounds in dance. They love to dance even if they have to get second jobs and then go to practice at night. One of this season’s leaders, Megan, doubles as a VFX artist and fan fave Reece and her husband started posting videos about food. But back to dance, it is a discipline, a knowledge, an art form that they pair with music. The use of music in real life is interesting – I still can’t believe that Thunderstruck came out in 1990. The same goes for the documentary itself, educating the children with Fleetwood Mac and Tom Petty needle drops. And back to real life, it also showcases their playlists, showing us that yes, cheerleaders have eclectic music tastes.

But back to dignity, the first season of America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders centred on these women’s wages. This season also has much to say about that but shows different angles of what these women get as part of their jobs, perks wise. It shows their access to free clothing, nails, tanning, etc., but a free tan doesn’t pay their rent and they prefer a wave to live on. Maybe this is a reach, but a living wage would have helped Chandi from her struggles with mental health and ‘behavioural issues’. I don’t want to give away too much on whether or not these women win the wage fight but at least they treat each other with empathy. Empathy is part of an ethos that make Finglass and choreographer Judy Trammell proud.

America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders‘ second season is available to stream on Netflix.