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This past weekend (February 26-27-28), the members of the Jacksonville Dance Company attended the Showstopper Regional Dance Competition that was held at the West Memphis Civic Auditorium, West Memphis, Arkansas.  Dancers from 20 studios from five states attended the competition.  Competing were dancers from nine studios from Tennessee; four studios from Mississippi; three studios from Missouri; three studios from Arkansas and one studio from Arizona. 

                                                                                                                          Courtesy of Ms. Andi   

The competition was broken down into "Competitive Division" and "Recreational Division." The competition was broken down by size of group: solos, duet/trios, small group, large group and super group.  The competition was further broken down by the usual genre such as tap, ballet, jazz, lyrical, hiphop, character, musical theater, contemporary, pom pon, production and others.  Then, the competition was further broken down into age groups and the ages in the group can be averaged, but usually can go only one age group down from the oldest dancer in the performance.  Awards were Silver, Gold, Platinum and Double Platinum.  Double platinum has recently been added to the awards.  A silver is equivalent to a second, Gold to first, Platinum a high first or what used to be called Elite Top First and I'm sorry, but I don't know to what a Double Platinum is equivalent - but obviously high!!!!

Over the weekend, Jacksonville Dance Company dancers performed three solos and fifteen group numbers in tap, jazz, lyrical, hiphop, character tap and modern lyrical.

Readers - I could not be at the dance competition this weekend as I was in St. Louis at the gymnastics competition, so I have only a few pictures sent to me by Ms. Andi.  I'm going to put pictures from the first competition on after the performance awards so you may be reminded of the group as you read.  If you happen to have group shots of any of the performances, please send them as attachments on e-mail  to:  jaxdanceco@hotmail.com and they will be forwarded to me for the website.  The quality must be clear and I appreciate your assistance.

The competition began Friday night with Kira Jinkins performing a tap solo to "Say Hey I Love You" and winning a Platinum.  This was just Kira's second solo performance, and we are very proud of her.  The choreographer and instructor for her dance was Ms. Emily.

Great Going, Kira - Congratulations!!!!

Saturday morning performances for JDC began with "Cat in the Hat," a character tap involving the use of a large fishbowl and a door with a window as props.  The performers in the tap, wear different costumes to show which character they are playing.  The dancers in this performance are Alexandria Adams, Amber Bajorek, Kira Jinkins, Micah Perry, Tegan Rea, Kassie Shepard and Ryann Young.  The performance is taught by Ms. Sara and won a Gold Award as well as placing seventh in the top ten of all Small Group Junior performances.

Shown here in their wonderfully unique costumes for "Cat in the Hat" character tap are Kira, Micah, Tegan, Amber, Alexandria, Kassie and Ryann.

Performing next and winning a Gold Award were the HipHop One dancers who performed to "Do the Harry."   Performing this hiphop dance, taught and choreographed by Ms. Sara, were young dancers Morgan Blanchard, Chandler Dean, Jaimee Hall, Reagan Hodson, Lauren Miller and Neely Taylor.

Shown here before their first competition performance are Neely, Chandler, Reagan, Lauren and Jaimee.  Morgan is not shown in this picture due to performance scheduling, but she can be seen in the "We're in the Money" performance picture.

HipHop Two dancers won a Gold Award for their performance to "Show Out," choreographed and taught by Ms. Lindsey.  Members of this dance performance are Abbye Cody, Madison Coffer, Keyerra Collins, Hallie Hankins, Alex Pettus, Tegan Rea, Emily Snell and Bailey Weathers. 

Shown here are Madison, Abbye, Emily, Hallie, Keyerra and Bailey.  Not shown in the photo but performing were Tegan and Alex.  Tegan  and Alex can be seen below in the "We're in the Money" photo.

Following the "Show Out" performance  was the performance to "Ice Cream Boogie" that also received a Gold Award.  This number was choreographed by and is taught by Ms. Sara.  Performers for this performance were Amber Bajorek, Regan Campbell, Julia Johnson, Hannah Taylor and Michael York. 

I did not get a photo of "Ice Cream Boogie" at the first competition, but I promise, unless costume changes preclude doing so, we will have pictures of this group. 

Performances that followed were in the Small Group Tap Category.  Tap One performed to "We're in the Money" and won a gold.  This number was choreographed by--and the class is taught by--Ms. Sara.  The dancers are Morgan Blanchard, Alex Pettus, Tegan Rea, Mattie Taylor and Katie Turner. 

Shown here are Tegan, Mattie, Morgan, Alex and Katie.

and shown here at this competition are Tegan, Alex, Katie, Mattie and Morgan

The next group, the Tap Two class, is also instructed by Ms. Sara and they performed to "Double Dutch Bus." These dancers, who also won a Gold Award, were Amber Bajorek, Katy Gorden, Julia Johnson, Hannah Taylor and Ryann Young. 

The "Double Dutch Bus" dancers posing here are Katy, Amber, Julia, Ryann and Hannah.

Ending the group performances for Saturday was the Jazz One performance to "P. Y. T." which was choreographed by and instructed by Ms. Lindsey.  The dancers, who won a Gold Award, are  Jessica Gardner, Katy Gorden, Micah Perry and  Mattie Taylor. 

The "P. Y. T." dancers are Mattie, Micah, Katy and Jessica.

Saturday evening, Kaitlin Soderlund performed a tap solo to "African Beat" and won a Gold Award.  Kaitlin is taught by Ms. Sara, who also choreographed the number.

Continue on Page Two

for Sunday's performances

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Directions

West Memphis Civic Auditorium

2. Merge onto I-40 E toward MEMPHIS. 122.0 mi

3. Take the AR-118/AIRPORT RD exit, EXIT 275, toward COLLEGE BLVD. 0.5 mi

4. Take the W M AIRPORT ramp toward US-70/W MEMPHIS/W M RIVER PORT/MID-SOUTH COMM. COLLEGE. 0.0 mi |

5. Turn SLIGHT RIGHT onto COLLEGE BLVD/AR-118. 0.8 mi

6. Turn LEFT onto W BROADWAY AVE/US-70/US-79. 2.0 mi

7. Turn RIGHT onto FEDERAL. 0.1 mi

8. Turn LEFT onto POLK AVE. 0.1 mi

9. 212 W POLK AVE is on the RIGHT.

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