Put on your dancing shoes: the all-male dance group 610 Stompers (only in New Orleans!) will be holding the first round of their yearly try-outs on August 15th and 16th at Maison on Frenchmen St.

The group is encouraging all male of 21 years or older to come demonstrate their moves in an open audition. Auditioners begin by learning a dance routine on Maison’s first floor, practicing it on the balcony (or sometimes outside the OffBeat office on the corner of Frenchmen and Decatur Streets–which is hilarious to watch) before performing it in front of judge panel of current Stompers and Splits (the groups’ infamous female safeguards).

“Opening the event to the public really made the event what it is,” said Stomper Mont Creamer, who will emcee the event. Creamer said the try-outs “turned into an event in and of itself,” when the contestant turnout grew to reach close to 200 people.

In recent years, the Stompers have had to put a cap on the number of contestants, and will only audution 50 dancers on each day, with registration opening at 11 a.m. Auditions will run until 7 p.m.

Beside the dancing moves that are expected to fit the Stomper’s motto, “Ordinary men. Extraordinary moves,” the judges will be looking for fun personalities and overall stage presence from the contestants, according to Creamer.

The most impressive participants will be invited to the second round of auditions, which will be held on August 23rd.

The 610 Stompers started in 2009, in the midst of the Saints’ Superbowl run, and performed for the first time in the “Buddy D” parade and the “Lombardi Gras” Superbowl Parade,. They’ve performed in hundreds of events and charity fundraisers since then. Their now-famous 610 Stompers Ball-Crawl attracted close to 1,500 people last June.

The Stompers: you gotta love ’em!