April 22 2015

Malika

This week's spotlight on the Palace Crystals cheerleaders falls on Malika!

Name: Malika.

Age: 20.

Hometown: Forest Gate.

Occupation: English, literature and language student at Greenwich Univeristy.

Dance background and experience: I did ballet and gymnastics when I was younger and I used to have belly dancing and like hip-hop lessons as well. I don’t really have that much dance experience, I’m more of a cheerleader for my uni. I'm the assistant coach of the cheerleading squad there.

Words to live by/favourite quote: Everything happens for a reason.

Five words that describe you: Sarcastic. Kind of childish, really immature sometimes, but definitely I like being a joker, so I like making people laugh. I like being funny. I think I’m a really sweet person if I may say so myself. And nice, really fun.

One thing most people would be surprised to learn is: I have 11 piercings. I have eight on my ear, two on my belly and one inside my nose.

Biggest fear: I’m terrified of rats and mice. I can do spiders, I can do snakes and I can do anything else, rats and mice is just no.

What would be your superpower? I’ve thought about this question before. I think I’d like to be like time travelling. So I can just go into the future and see what I’m doing in my life and then come back and redo it again.

Most embarrassing moment: I’m too cool to be embarrassing. I don’t think I have an embarrassing moment. I’m really clumsy. I trip up all the time. I get really nervous when I’m crossing the road, so there’s been a time when I’ve tripped up on the road while I was crossing it.

Dream job: Actress.

Dream holiday destination: I’ve got so many. I’ve got a whole list of places I want to go to. Probably Hawaii or Bali.

Why did you decide to audition for the Crystals? I just thought it'd be something different. Something new, who else can say they dance in front of 26,000 people every week at the game? It's an amazing feeling.

What are some of your Crystals highlights? The friends I’ve made. Game days, make it all worth it in the end. So much fun, the atmosphere is just the best. The fans are great, it just makes everything… there’s loads of highlights.

Favorites:

Current player: Wilfried Zaha.

Movie: Armageddon.

Article of clothing: I have an obsession with coats and jackets, so probably my new fur coat.

Phone app: Instagram.

Cartoon character: Jasmin from Aladdin.

TV show: Montreal.

Ice cream: Vanilla.

Junk food weakness: Burgers.

See Malika's gallery

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