The Albany Patroons’ dance team: Emeralds that were hotter than sunshine

Tuesday night.  Before I head off for a night of competitive trivia at Pizzaria UNO in Crossgates Mall, I take a couple of minutes to check my Facebook account.  Among the various posts and updates and offers to sell me virtual candy bars, I found a note from one of my FB friends, a girl named Tiffinay.  Yes, that’s how her name is spelled, don’t make an issue of it.

Working at Quintessence from 6-12, come in and visit me 🙂

If you’re not familiar with Albany’s dining establishments, Quintessence is a former railroad diner car that was converted into one of the Capital District’s hottest restaurants of the 80’s and 90’s.  It was shut down for a time, and was recently re-opened, and Tiffinay was working behind the bar, and encouraging her friends on Facebook to stop in and say hi.

So after trivia, in which I completely missed the final question (“What Hollywood actress, born in 1971, has Timothy Leary as her godfather?”  I said Drew Barrymore, it was Winona Ryder), I decided to swing by Quintessence and see how Tiffinay was doing.

I walked in, she recognized me, and we chatted for a while.  What I should mention is that I knew Tiffinay from a few years prior – when she was a member of the Albany Patroons’ dance team, the Emeralds, and I was (among several other duties) the team photographer.

When the Albany Patroons returned to the CBA in 2005, I signed on as their game-day photographer, a position I held for three seasons.  At the first exhibition game in 2005, I chatted with the dance team coach about whether they might need some extra edited dance tracks for their routines.  Before long, I was trimming up 60-second versions of everything from U2’s “Vertigo” to OK Go’s “Here It Goes Again,” and a whole slew of tracks inbetween.

At the same time, I always made sure that there were Emeralds photos taken during the game – whether they were dancing, greeting the fans, goofing around with the Patroons’ mascot (a big chubby panda named Lido), or just doing what the Emeralds were always capable of doing – looking sweet and pretty and athletic.

I photographed the Emeralds on several different non-Patroons-related events, including two appearances at the Relay for Life fundraising event, a Light the Night walk, and a fashion show to promote the ME Fashion Boutique.  My photos of the Emeralds were part of their 2005-06 and 2007-08 dance team posters.

Funny thing about the team poster from 07-08.  We shot that poster in one of the conference rooms at the Armory, on one of the rainiest days that year.  The girls all had their hair and makeup done before they arrived at the Armory, and I took head and torso shots of each girl for the Patroons’ website.  Every Emerald had a smile on her face; every Emerald looked fit and spectacular.

And the girls all loved kids.  They would hand little pom poms to kids, who would dance on the sidelines with the Emeralds.  It was a fantastic way to interact with the paying customers.

Tiffinay and I reminisced about those days.  She told me that one of the Emeralds from the first season, Edwina, is now on the dance team for the Miami Heat.  Other dancers from the Emeralds are getting married, they’re going to college, they’re part of other dance teams, and for the most part, all of them are doing well.  We talked about which of the dancers we thought might go far on “So You Think You Can Dance,” and which ones arestill pursuing their dreams – whether it be dancing or medical school or child care or the like.

When she’s not bartending at Quintessence, Tiffinay is involved in a dance team, The Libertina Dance Co., and are planning a performance in New Orleans.  I wish her, and all the Emeralds who performed at the Armory whether the Patroons were winning or losing, all the success they deserve in the future.