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JACKSONVILLE DANCE COMPANY (JDC)

COMPETES AT ITS FIRST DANCE COMPETITION

OF ITS SEASON AT THE

VIP COMPETITION AT ROBINSON AUDITORIUM

The Jacksonville Dance Company members attended their first dance competition of the 2011-2012 season this Saturday and Sunday, February 18-19, at the VIP Dance Competition at Robinson Auditorium, Little Rock, along with dancers from ten dance studios from Arkansas and Mississippi. JDC competes twenty numbers, including three solos, two duets and two trios, in addition to the thirteen group numbers. At the end of the competition, the judges awarded each dance company a special award - some were for performance, style, execution, etc. Jacksonville Dance Company's award was for precision. (I hope that Ms. Sara and Ms. Star were happy with that - I was very proud of our studio being awarded that particular award.)

In this VIP Competition, the performances were broken into two categories, depending on skill level, competition experience and hours of training per week. The two categories were Broadway (intermediate level, little or no competition experience and less than six hours of training per week) and Hollywood (advanced level dancers with more competition experience and over six hours of training per week). The scoring system was silver, high silver, gold, high gold and platinum. Age groups were: Mini - six and under and ages seven-eight, and age nine; Junior - age ten, age eleven, and age twelve; Teen - age thirteen, age fourteen, and age fifteen; and Senior, age sixteen, age seventeen, age eighteen-nineteen, and age twenty to twenty-four.

JDC younger age groups and all solos, duets and trios competed on Saturday beginning early Saturday morning and ending up Saturday night. The JDC older groups and large groups with combined ages competed on Sunday beginning early Sunday and ending early afternoon, after which some of the performers attended a nearly five-hour-dance teaching workshop sponsored by VIP. See later notes regarding this convention.

The JDC costumes and hairdos were all fantastic and many or the costumes were hand jeweled by Ms. Sara and other Huff 'n Puff staff members. JDC dancers really did "shine" on stage, both with their performances and their costumes.

The competition for JDC began early Saturday morning when Tegan Rea performed a tap solo--her first-ever solo--in the Junior age bracket, with performers in the Broadway Division. Tegan won not only a High Gold for her performance to "Mind Control," but she also won First Place in the Top Ten performances. Congratulations to Tegan, who only began taking tap two years ago. Ms. Sara is her instructor.

Tegan

Kira Jinkins and Ryann Young performed a tap duet to "Party Rockin" in the Hollywood, Junior Division. They won a High Gold for their duet instructed by Ms. Sara.

Kira and Ryann

The following five performances were all in the Small Group, Broadway, Mini (younger) Division - ages are generally averaged for each group.

The Hiphop One dancers performed their hip-hop dance immediately after the lunch break. They performed to "School Girl Rock" and won a Gold for their performance that is instructed by Ms. Sara. This was the first competition performance for four of the dancers. Competing in this dance were Amber Cadie, Jo Lee Camp, Alexis Hogan, Isabel Ruiz and Caley Sample.

Posing in their cute school girl outfits from left to right are Alexis, Amber, Caley, Jo Lee and Isabel

The Hip-Hop Two dancers performed to "Lil Rock-Starz" and won a Gold award. The performers, instructed by Ms. Sara, are Chandler Dean, Jaimee Hall, Tori Kiser, Olivia Snell, Coralyn Taylor, Neely Taylor and Jada Williams.

Front row dancers, from left to right, are Neely, Olivia, Chandler and Coralyn. Back row dancers are Tori, Jada and Jaimee. These dancers had their hair done up in a really great way - be sure to check out the "behind-the-scenes" pictures.

The Tap One performers competed to "Betty Boop" and won a Gold. The performers, instructed by Ms. Sara, looked great in their special hairdos. Performing in this dance were Mae Armstrong, Chandler Dean, Tori Kiser, Isabel Ruiz, Olivia Snell and Neely Taylor. A complete picture is not available at this time.

Shown here while practicing before the competition, and being reminded how quickly some costume changes have to be made, are the "Betty Boop" performers. From left to are Neely, Olivia, Isabel, Tori, Mae and Chandler.

This picture was taken at the dress rehearsal. From left to right are Neely, Isabel, Tori, Mae and Chandler.

The Jazz One dancers, instructed by Ms. Sara, performed to "Funky Monkey" and won a High Gold for their performance. Unfortunately, because of quick costume changes, I was unable to get a picture of these dancers in their bright yellow costumes with the colorful feathers. Hopefully, we will be able to do so next competition because they looked and danced great!!!! Performing in this dance were Tori Kiser, Myla McGhee, Olivia Snell, Neely Taylor and Jada Williams.

The Lyrical One dancers performed to "Sugarcane" and won a Gold. Instructed by Ms. Sara, these performers are Mae Armstrong, Chandler Dean, Jaimee Hall, Tori Kiser, Myla McGhee, Olivia Snell and Neely Taylor.

These dancers, in their beautiful costumes, performed a beautiful 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 a hip-hop dance to "Out of This World" in the Small Group, Junior, Broadway Division, and winning a gold award were Breonna Brooks, Elizabeth Clark, Amari Felder, Sierra Hurley and Gabi Sefcik. Ms. Star was changing her choreography right before the performance due to the fact that Wayne (Sonny) Rodgers, who was also in this dance, had been involved in a car accident on the way to the competition. Sonny seems to be badly bruised but hopefully suffered no long-term injuries. And the dancers pulled off their performance without a hitch!!!

This picture was taken Friday night at the dress rehearsal. Sonny is kneeling on the front; the standing dancers, from left to right, are Sierra, Amari, Elizabeth, Breonna and Gabi.

Performing at the competition, from left to right, are Sierra, Gabi, Elizabeth, Breonna and Amari.

The Hip-Hop Three-and-a-Half Dancers performed to "We Run This" in the Small Group, Junior, Hollywood Division, and won a High Gold. Performing were Abbye Cody, Madison Coffer, Mattie Taylor and Katie Turner. These dancers are instructed by Ms. Sara. The group also proudly placed sixth in the Top Ten junior Hollywood performances.

The fifth member of the group, Emily Snell, has been unable to participate for the past several weeks due to an unexpected surgery. Emily will be back with the group after several more weeks.

The dancers shown here in their brightly jeweled costumes, from left to right, are Madison, Abbye, Mattie and Katie.

The Tap Two dancers performed to "Jumpin Jack" in the Small Group, Junior, Broadway Division, and won a gold. These dancers are instructed by Ms. Sara. Their bright smiles match their brightly decorated, sparkly, costumes.

From left to right, the tap performers to "Jumpin' Jack" are Jo Lee, Abby, Alex and Sierra.

The teen and older solo performances began around 6:00 Saturday evening and the duets and trio performances followed these performances.

Alex Adams performed her first-ever solo in the Teen Broadway Division. Alex performed a contemporary-type dance in the open category to "E.T." and won a gold. Alex is taught by Ms. Sara.

Alex poses in the lobby of Robinson Auditorium.

Amber Bajorek performed a tap solo to "Bust a Move" in the teen Hollywood Category and won a Gold. This was Amber's first solo also - however, she performed in a duet last year, in addition to performing in several genre dance in JDC over the past several years. Amber is taught by Ms. Sara.

Amber poses here before performing her "Bust a Move" tap dance.

The next JDC performance Saturday night was the trio Jazz performance to "Kick It" by Amber Bajorek, Alex Pettus and Mattie Taylor. The dancers were super heroes in this performance and they were awarded a gold. The trio is taught by Ms. Sara. Their performance was in the Hollywood Teen Division.

From left to right are Alex, Mattie and Amber

Joi Smith and Rachel Wyrick performed a very different type Jazz duet in the Hollywood Teen Category to "My Discarded Men" and won a Gold. They also won Second Place in the Top Performances List. Their performance followed a very lively hip-hop performance and Joi and Rachel's dance was such a beautiful contrast to the prior number. Joi and Rachel are taught by Ms. Sara.

Rachel and Joi pose here at the dress rehearsal.

The last JDC performance of the night was a tap trio taught by Ms. Sara to "Super Sonic." The trio of Alex Adams, Kassie Shepard, and Kaitlin Soderlund performed in the Hollywood Teen Category and won a Gold. Dancers were rushed at the performance so pictures were taken in different ways.

Kassie and Alex pose here in the dance room at the Dress Rehearsal

Kaitlin was cheering at her ballgame Friday night so I quickly snapped this shot before she changed for Awards at the competition.

Click here for Sunday Teen, Junior and Senior small and large group performances.

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