Victoria Kalina was one of many dancers closely featured on Season 1 of America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders in 2024. The season ended with the crew members deciding whether or not they wished to maintain their uniforms, or return them and transfer on from being a DCC.
Kalina was one of many girls who determined to hold up her uniform for good. Her retirement got here after 4 seasons as a DCC (she first made the squad in 2019, then returned in 2020, took a hiatus in 2021, and got here again in 2022 and 2023).
As a legacy crew member — her mother Tina Kalina was on the squad in 1984, 1988, and 1989, and can be greatest pals with coach Kelli Finglass — Kalina usually felt immense strain to show herself. Whereas she initially deliberate to re-audition for the squad in 2024, she determined to maneuver on after Finglass and head choreographer Judy Trammell instructed her they didn’t envision her in a management function.
Now, Kalina has moved on to even larger issues. Scroll down for an replace on the place she is at the moment and extra!
What’s Victoria Kalina doing now?
After deciding to depart DCC in her previous, Kalina moved to New York Metropolis to begin the following chapter of her life. She moved to the Large Apple with goals of turning into a Rockette dancer, and she or he auditioned in spring 2025. She didn’t make the crew, however has a constructive outlook going ahead.
“This 12 months is a ‘not now’ for the Rockettes however I can’t wait to proceed to push this subsequent 12 months and proceed to see what different spectacular issues unravel on this magical metropolis,” Kalina shared on Instagram.
In between her coaching for the Rockettes, Kalina has been exploring different avenues of dance. She teaches courses for Fusion Train and posts her personal dancing movies to social media and YouTube.
Why did Victoria Kalina go away DCC?
Kalina didn’t have an amazing expertise throughout her fourth 12 months on the crew, and watching that again on Season 1 of America’s Sweethearts validated her resolution to not return. Throughout her time with DCC, Kalina struggled with an consuming dysfunction and despair, which led to her one-year hiatus from this system. When she returned, she instructed The Minimize she “felt like a rookie once more.”
“It began from the highest with Kelli and Judy,” Kalina claimed. “They sort of had their distance with me due to our household relationships and all the pieces. And so the women additionally had that.”
In the end, after her dialog with Finglass and Trammell in regards to the 2024 season, the place they instructed her they didn’t see her being a pacesetter in her fifth 12 months, Kalina realized she didn’t wish to transfer ahead with the group.
“As a fifth 12 months, you ought to be on cloud 9, realizing simply how the tenure pyramid falls,” Kalina instructed At present.com. “Fifth 12 months doesn’t essentially have anticipated management qualities, however you’ve been there. You understand the foundations. You understand the expectations that you could trickle all the way down to the youthful tenure women. And so I used to be actually excited to step into that function, doubtlessly. Once I knew that wasn’t simply in play for me of their eyes, in the midst of the dialog, I wished to say ‘no’ proper then. However I by no means wish to make a rash resolution. I wished to take a seat on it. I wished to course of it.”
After speaking it over together with her mother, Kalina got here to her resolution. “She was like, ‘No, we’ve been round this group. I’ve been round it. I’ve been in it. And as a fifth 12 months woman, like they need to need you to return again.’ And since I didn’t hear that in my dialog, I used to be like, ‘Yeah, I believe it’s time for me to place my efforts and my abilities elsewhere and check out for one thing new.’”
The place does Victoria Kalina stand with Kelli Finglass now?
Kalina didn’t conceal her frustration with Finglass and Trammell after her exit from the present. In her 2024 interview with The Minimize, she replied, “No remark,” when requested how she feels about Finglass now.
She additionally mentioned that her shut private relationship with Finglass truly made issues extra sophisticated for her on the crew. As she defined to Us Weekly, “I believe some individuals assume it’s a bonus. It could be completely different if my mother was simply on the crew similtaneously Kelli, and even simply was a cheerleader and I used to be merely a legacy. However I believe that added [part of], ‘No, your mother is greatest pals together with her’ is the complication. And I believe individuals most likely assume that, ‘Oh, I’m gonna go over to Kelli’s home and be like, gimme the tea.’ However that’s undoubtedly not the case. In actual fact, she’s attempting to begin from scratch with me, attempting to push apart that non-public relationship that now we have. I really feel like [she] provides me a chilly shoulder so she wouldn’t ever play into that favoritism.”
On the time of that July 2024 interview, Kalina hadn’t “heard a lot from” Finglass, who was “closely into coaching camp” for the brand new season. “She texted me saying, ‘Good luck in New York,’” the DCC alum shared. “Earlier than the present got here out, I did go to Mexico as a result of I used to be in her daughter’s marriage ceremony. That was the final huge connection we’ve had. I can’t see myself desirous to attend a DCC occasion anytime quickly.”
America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, Season 2, Wednesday, June 18, Netflix