Loks

Before the season 2012-2013 the management of the “Lokomotiv-Kuban” realised the need to support reorganisation of the cheerleading team of the club. The traditional cheerleading format with pom-poms and modern dances did not fulfill the expectations of the fans of the show and required the innovational changes. Taking the cue from NBA, where cheerleading has already made a significant step forward and evolved into spectacular more varied and interesting shows, the management of “Loko” decided to put a bet on the modern street-dances. That is how “LOKS”- the new cheerleading crew, of “Lokomotiv” was created.

“Loks” are the dancers that were selected by a strict and comprehensive casting, dancers who were trained at professional dance camps and took part in master-classes not only of Russian but also European teachers. “Loks” has got in its arsenal such modern dance styles as hip-hop, popping, dancehall, house, break dance, vogue, juzz funk etc. Every single member of the team represents excellent appearance and decent choreographic skills.

From the very first games the “Loks” were warmly welcomed by the fans, but that was only the beginning for the cheerleaders from Krasnodar. The Efes Dance Square Off — the competition for the best cheerleading teams in Europe, organised by Euroleague, — was a crucial step for “Lokomotiv’s” dance crew. The stakes were high — winner was going to be the official cheerleading team of the Final Four in London.

“Loks” managed to make a splash at the first stage of the competition — the team from Krasnodar won the audience vote with the significant margin and went through to the final, leaving behind a number of groups not only from Russian basketball clubs (CSKA, “Spartakus”) but also from the Euroleague clubs.

During the preparation for the final another venerable teacher joined “Loks”. The “Loks’ ” performances for the final show were created by Phillip ‘Pacman’ Chbeeb, the winner of the prestigious American show “America’s Best Dance Crew”, finalist of “So you think you can dance” and the choreograph of the “Step Up 4”.

As a result, after startling the jury and audience on the final show in Moscow, “Loks” won the EFSO competition, leaving behind the cheerleading teams of “Zalgiris”, German “Alba” and Croatian “Cedevita”. The next stop for the red-greens was London, where in-between the hardcore battles of the Final Four “Loks” were tiring the applause of thousands on O-2 Arena.

This season “Loks” will start with the renewed cast, and is preparing even more performances for the fans, more acrobatic stunts, more music, more fun and definitely more dances.