DEFINE "WERQ!"

THE PRANCING ELITES OF MOBILE, ALABAMA

This is all sorts of fabulous - the hot uniforms, the deadpan expressions, the ferocious moves, that little girl scampering down the front - oblivious to her future importance, of course.

I'm in awe. But I'm also scared. Cheer dancing, even with stunts, never looked this dangerous. You might break some bones when you do drops and tumbles. But here, the choreography and execution evoke lives that relentlessly threaten to break one's spirit. There's a coiled energy beneath the sinewy arms and the blank faces - a sort of menace. You quickly realize that these aren't girls. They're not dudes, either. They're a different breed of human being altogether - GURLS - shaped by unfathomable experiences that have somehow found the light of day through cheer dancing - or properly, J-setting.

C'mon, gurls! You know how to do it.

WERQ!