ABC11 news anchor Amber Rupinta spent years delivering the news from behind a desk in Raleigh. Now she is spinning on hardwood at Capital One Arena, after finally landing a spot on the Washington Wizards’ Wizdom dance team for performers age 50 and older. It is a comeback nearly three decades in the making, since Rupinta first tried out for the Wizards’ dance squad at age 22 and came up short.
Rupinta still appears on ABC11 Eyewitness News noon and 4 p.m. newscasts, but she now also performs with Wizdom at roughly one Wizards home game each month, according to ABC11. The station reports more than 100 hopefuls competed for about 22 spots on the team this year, and Rupinta found out she had made it a week after auditioning. She had not forgotten her earlier attempt. “When I was 22, I tried out for the Washington Wizards dance team on a whim, and I made it really far. And then I didn’t make the team,” Rupinta said, per ABC11.
What changed this time, according to the Raleigh News & Observer, was breakdancing. Rupinta learned the style as a kid, copying MTV moves with her cousins, and later served as dance team co-captain in high school, the newspaper reports. In 2025 she started taking classes at Danz Insanity, a dance-based fitness studio in North Raleigh, ahead of her second attempt at the Wizards tryout.
Breakdancing Becomes Her Edge
During the freestyle portion of this year’s audition, Rupinta unleashed those breakdancing skills, according to ABC11’s account of her tryout. The paper notes that a coach suggested she work the breakdancing into her routine, and she agreed — a decision that appears to have set her apart from the crowded field of applicants. Wizdom, launched by the Wizards in 2018, bills itself as a co-ed senior dance team that performs hip-hop and musical theater numbers during games and special events, per ABC11.
Rupinta performed with the team for the first time at the Wizards’ season opener at Capital One Arena on October 21, when Wizdom welcomed six newcomers to the roster, according to the News & Observer. This year’s squad has 22 dancers, all in their 50s and 60s, the paper reports, though the team has in the past included a member who was 77, according to Derric Whitfield, the Wizards’ senior director of dance and performance. Some Wizdom members are former professional dancers, while others, the News & Observer notes, have no performing background at all.
Fitting Dance Around A Day Job
Wizdom meets every Sunday for practice and performs at Capital One Arena at least once a month until the season wraps up in April, according to the same account. The paper describes it as a part-time commitment for everyone involved, and Rupinta’s broadcasting schedule is not expected to change much during the season. She has two teenage sons, and told the News & Observer that performing live gives her an energy and audience feedback that broadcasting does not. She also said her managers support the dance commitment, even as her full-time anchor job remains her main gig — and that trips to Washington, D.C. give her a chance to visit her mother in Montgomery County, Maryland.
Whitfield told the News & Observer the opening-night performance was amazing and that he received plenty of compliments about the dancers afterward. He said Wizdom members join for all kinds of reasons — overcoming fears, dealing with illness, chasing second chances, or simply getting healthy exercise — and called the team one of the Wizards’ fan favorites. He also said he hopes to grow Wizdom’s presence across the greater Washington, D.C. area and inspire similar programs elsewhere.
Part Of A Bigger NBA Trend
Wizdom is far from alone. ABC11 reports that roughly a dozen NBA organizations now field multigenerational entertainment groups, and NPR has similarly counted at least a dozen such squads for dancers 50 and older league-wide. The News & Observer points to the Miami Heat’s Golden Oldies, the Golden State Warriors’ Hardwood Classics and the Denver Nuggets’ Sizzlin’ Seniors as other examples. The Heat’s squad is for performers 60 and older, according to the Miami Herald, while NPR reports the Warriors’ Hardwood Classics range from age 55 to 77.
In Denver, the Nuggets’ Sizzlin’ Seniors include 25 women ages 55 to 82 who perform at Nuggets games at least once a month during the regular season and at select playoff games, according to Rocky Mountain PBS. Closer to home, the News & Observer notes that none of the Carolina Hurricanes, Carolina Panthers or Charlotte Hornets currently has its own seasoned dance team. The Triangle does have its own senior performance groups, though: Raleigh’s Razzmatazz Senior Dance Troupe performs at civic and community events, Garner’s G Squad 55 runs routines for amateur dancers with limited experience, and Raleigh-based Dancing Man Productions stages one-hour Broadway productions with performers and technical artists ages 55 and up, all according to the News & Observer.
