Women in a white and black jacket stands with her face and hands upturned, as confetti falls around her. She is holding a green and white pom pom in her right hand.

Cheering in the Super Bowl is serious business. Ask this cancer researcher

Chelsea Pe Benito always knew she would be a dancer. But in her mind, it didn’t look quite like this.

Pe Benito trained for 15 years as a ballerina growing up in central New Jersey, studying at the prestigious Princeton Ballet School through high school, dancing in standards like “Swan Lake” and even touring in a production of “The Nutcracker” around the tri-state area. “It was all tutus and pointe shoes,” she says. “I was in love with ballet.”

Before too long, she would indeed be dancing professionally — but in sneakers and heeled boots.

The 2019 graduate of Northeastern University is in her second season as an NFL cheerleader for the Philadelphia Eagles. The classical suites and elongated, legato movements of her youth have been replaced with screaming football fans, pom poms and whip-like choreography designed to be seen in the nosebleed seats.

“I tear every time up waiting in the tunnel line to go onto the field,” Pe Benito says. “You can quite literally feel the ground shaking. There’s no better feeling.”

Read more from Northeastern Global News.

Editors note: This story was published in February 2024 and has been updated to include information on the Eagles’ trip to Super Bowl LIX. 

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Psychology