TEEN TALKS TO: Jennifer and Ashley Tisdale

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TEEN: Jen, tell us about your new movie, Bring it On 4.
Jennifer: It actually takes place at cheerleading camp. There’s the East Coast Jets and the West Coast Sharks. They’re longtime rivals. The captain of the west coast team decides to bring something a little different to camp this year. She also ends up falling for one of the guys on our team, which is the east coast team. It’s a very Romeo and Juliet type of story going on. Their spirit stick gets stolen and they think that we took it. It creates this all-out rivalry. At cheerleading camp if the spirit stick gets stolen it totally means you’re cursed to all get out. So we have this big battle between our two teams and we end up getting kicked out of camp so we have to figure out how to get back into camp because Nationals are following the camp. If we’re not at camp, we can’t compete.

TEEN: Is that spirit stick stuff true in real life?Jennifer: Yeah!

TEEN: So you went to cheer camp then?
Jennifer: A lot!

TEEN: How do you get the spirit stick and how do you keep it?
Jennifer: You get the spirit stick by either being the most improved team at camp or most spirited. Your team needs to stand out in some way – whatever it is. Each night a different squad gets the spirit stick.

TEEN: Did your squad ever have the spirit stick when you were at camp?
Jennifer: Oh yeah, absolutely! In high school, one of the really cool things about our team was that our coach never went with us to cheer camp and we were the only team that didn’t have a coach with us, so our team captain always used to be in charge. When I was a senior and captain we were always known for being the most fun squad because we didn’t have a coach there telling us what to do.

TEEN: So the whole squad goes together?
Jennifer: Yeah, and it’s usually at a college and you’re put in dorm rooms.

TEEN: What’s your best cheer camp memory?
Jennifer: I have two, actually. I was a cheerleader for a really long time! My senior year I was captain of my squad and we won camp championships, which meant our team was the best team in our varsity range. And then I ended up making All-American All-Star which was a thing where all the people that made all-star could do the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, but you had to have try-outs and only 20 people from each camp were able to go. And then my sophomore year of college my best cheerleading memory was, we were an all-girl squad and we were there at the same time as the USC all-boys cheer squad. They’re yell leaders. I actually met a boy at cheer camp and I ended up dating him so that was great. I got to go to USC football games and sit in the second row.

TEEN: What was your favorite part about being a cheerleader?
Jennifer: I’ve danced my whole life and I really just enjoy dancing and performing, which is probably why I’m an actress. I love performing and getting a reaction from the crowd and giving people energy.