About 200 young performers showed off their best moves in Midtown on Saturday for the annual open auditions for 16 slots in the Knicks City Kids dance squad.

Children from the ages of six to 14 competed at the City Center Studios for the chance to dance during New York Knicks basketball games during the 2010-2011 season.

The squad performs at Madison Square Garden during home games and represents the team at community and National Basketball Association publicity appearances throughout the season.

"It's really cool because people notice how good of a dancer you are at Madison Square Garden, the most famous arena. It's absolutely amazing to dance at Madison Square Garden," said team member Jewel Stevens.

The auditioning children learned original routines choreographed by Knicks City Dancers head coach Heather Van Arsdel and were judged by Knicks representatives.

"It's a very fast, hard routine. You have to be very coordinated with your hands and feet, and I think some of the kids might struggle with it. But I like to challenge them because I like to see how they handle it," said Van Arsdel.

Dancers said they trained for months for the audition, to nail the routine and bring some personality to the floor.

"You have to be so active and do facials and do everything else," said dancer Janiyah Pearson.

"Everybody did their stuff, practicing hard and trying to work to be a Knicks City Kid," said dancer Eliazer Chapman.

"This is his dream, he would like to make it big one day. So I am here for my son," said a parent who came to the auditions.

The Knicks City Kids are the original NBA children's dance team.

Van Arsdel said dancers on previous teams have gone on to appear in professional music videos and Broadway shows.