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JACKSONVILLE DANCE COMPANY (JDC) WINS BIG AT MAJOR DANCE EVENT -
SHOWSTOPPER DANCE COMPETITION
Members of the Jacksonville Dance Company, under the direction of Ms. Sara Wilson, competed recently (March 30-31 and April 1) at the West Memphis Convention Center and came home with many honors and trophies. JDC competed against 27 dance studios from Arkansas, Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky and Missouri for prestigious top honors at Showstopper Dance Competition. The competition began Friday evening at 7:30 and ended Sunday night about 8:00. JDC members danced in nineteen performances, which included solos, duets, trios and group numbers, both large and small.
Most dance competitions seem to follow the same guidelines when it comes to ages and size of groups. Usually nine and fewer dancers constitute a small group and ten and above dancers are considered a large group. For this competition, Showstoppers has three competition groups: Performers, Advanced and Competitive and awards were different for the different levels of dance.
Awards for Performance Level were Silver, Gold, Platinum and Double Platinum. Awards for Advanced Level were the same. Awards for Competitive Level were Silver, Gold, Platinum, Double Platinum and Crystal. JDC received five Double Platinum awards, five Platinum Awards and nine Gold awards.
Ages for the dance groups are averaged, as are the experience levels. All groups are taught by Ms. Sara Wilson. All pictures were taken either at earlier competitions or at the studio.
Listed first (although not in order of performing) are the performances that were competed in the Performance Category.
PERFORMANCE CATEGORY
Awards of Silver, Gold, Platinum and Double Platinum
Performing to "Sugarcane" in age seven were Mae Armstrong, Chandler Dean, Jaimee Hall, Tori Kiser, Myla McGhee, Olivia Snell and Neely Taylor. The dancers won a Gold for their lyrical dance.
These dancers performed a lyrical dance to "Sugarcane." On bottom row is Chandler; on second row are Olivia and Neely; on third row are Jaimee and Myla; and on fourth row are Mae and Tori.
Performing hiphop to "School Girl Rock" ages seven to eight and winning a Gold were Hip-Hop One dancers - Amber Cadie, Jo Lee Camp, Alexis Hogan, Isabel Ruiz and Caley Sample.
Posing here from left to right are Alexis, Amber, Caley, Jo Lee and Isabel. The dancers received first in their category and won Eighth in Overall performances for their age.
Performing tap, the JDC Tap One, age seven, performers, shown here in their wonderful costumes, danced to "Betty Boop." The dancers won a Gold and won first in their category and Sixth in the Overall. Performing were Mae Armstrong, Chandler Dean, Tori Kiser, Isabel Ruiz, Olivia Snell and Neely Taylor.
Photo by April Kiser
From left to right are Isabel, Chandler, Neely, Olivia, Tori and Mae. Ms. Sara posed with the dancers.
The JDC Jazz One, age seven, dancers performed jazz to "Funky Monkey and won a gold. They won second in their category and won Fifth in Overall Performances, their age. The performers are Tori Kiser, Myla McGhee, Olivia Snell, Neely Taylor and Jada Williams.
Front row left to right are Olivia, Neely and Myla. Standing are Jada and Tori. You can't miss these bright costumes with their gorgeous feathers.
Performing hiphop to "Out of this World" were the Hip-Hop Three dancers who won a Gold and Eighth out of Top Eight. Performing were Breonna Brooks, Elizabeth Clark, Amari Felder, Sierra Hurley, Wayne "Sonny" Rodgers and Gabi Sefcik.
Sonny is kneeling on the front; the standing dancers, from left to right, are Sierra, Amari, Elizabeth, Breonna and Gabi.
Performing tap to "Jumpin Jack" were the Tap Two Dancers--Jo Lee Camp, Abby Groff, Sierra Hurley and Alex Pettus. They won a Gold and won seventh of eighth overall.
From left to right, the tap performers to "Jumpin' Jack" are Jo Lee, Abby, Alex and Sierra.
Click here for the JDC Advanced Performances