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WHAT FUN WE HAD!!!!!!
The members of the Jacksonville Dance Company attended their first competition of the 2009 - 2010 season and had a great time. I think we forget from year to year just how much fun the competitions can be and how much fun it is to entertain the receptive audiences.
The competition was small compared to some of the competitions that we have attended, but everything seemed to have been run very efficiently. This was our first time to attend a Spotlight Competition, which was held this year at the Hot Springs Convention Center. The competition covered both Saturday and Sunday for JDC. Jacksonville Dance Company members performed sixteen group numbers and one solo. The genre, performed in both small and large-group performances by the dance members, includes tap, jazz, lyrical and hiphop. The competition seemed to have worked out with younger dancers performing on Saturday and mostly older groups performing on Sunday. JDC, however, had a large group hip hop number (actually line performance) that included dancers from ages five and six to older teens.
The awards for this competition were jewels beginning with Sapphire, Emerald, Ruby and Diamond, the equivalents to a third, second, first and elite top first. The performers compete against a score card for the adjudicated scores. Then after the adjudicated scores are announced, judges awards and other awards were announced. Also performances were entered into different categories such as Novice and Future Gems, which is for performers who have not performed long. Other categories were for performers who had competed more and they were broken down into age groups of petite, junior, teen and senior in addition to size groups of solo, duet/trio, small groups, large groups and line performances.
Because of the scheduling of some of the performances, I was unable to get pictures of all the groups. Some of the dancers were in performances where they might have had to be changing with no time for pictures. We hope the scheduling will be a little different at the next competition and we can get pictures of all the JDC performances. Also, several times I took pictures of dancers who happened to be in the costume, so we could get an idea of how they would look in their dances.
On Saturday, JDC started its performances with a small group tap number to "We're in the Money." Performing in this number were Tap One Dancers Morgan Blanchard, Alex Pettus, Tegan Rea, Mattie Taylor and Katie Turner. The dancers, who won a Ruby Award for their performance, are taught by Ms. Sara.
Shown here are Tegan, Mattie, Morgan, Alex and Katie.
Performing tap to "Double Dutch Bus" were the Tap Two Dancers Amber Bajorek, Katy Gorden, Julia Johnson, Madi Spears, Hannah Taylor and Ryann Young. The dancers, instructed by Ms. Sara, were awarded a Ruby.
Shown here before performing to "Double Dutch Bus" are the following dancers: Madi, Katy, Hannah, Julia, Amber and Ryann.
Performing to "Do the Harry" were Hiphop One dancers Morgan Blanchard, Chandler Dean, Jaimee Hall, Reagan Hodson, Lauren Miller and Neely Taylor. Taught by Ms. Sara, these young dancers won a Ruby award.
Shown here before their performance in the Petite Division are first-time performers Neely, Chandler, Reagan, Lauren and Jaimee. Morgan is not shown in this photo as she was either performing in another number or changing to be in this number. These performers did such a great job and we were all so proud of them. You would have never known that it was their first competition!!!!
Performing to "Show Out" were Hiphop Two dancers who are taught by Ms. Lindsey. This group, who also won a Ruby Award, are Abbye Cody, Madison Coffer, Keyerra Collins, Hallie Hankins, Alex Pettus, Tegan Rea, Emily Snell and Bailey Weathers. The dancers also received a Special Judge's Award of "Jammin' Jackets." Usually there were about five to seven judges choice awards, so we were very proud for this group to be awarded the honor.
Shown here are Madison, Abbye, Emily, Hallie, Keyerra and Bailey. Not shown in the photo but performing were Teagan and Alex.
Performing to "Ice Cream Boogie" were Hiphop Three dancers, Amber Bajorek, Regan Campbell, Julia Johnson, Madi Spears, Hannah Taylor and Michael York. The dancers, who were awarded an Emerald, are taught by Ms. Sara.
No picture was available other than Madi who is shown here concerned about where part of her next costume had disappeared to. This costume was very bright and colorful with orange hat and accents.
Performing to "P. Y. T." were Jazz One Dancers Jessica Gardner, Katy Gorden, Micah Perry and Mattie Taylor. The dancers, taught by Ms. Lindsey, received an Emerald Award.
Shown here before their dance, in their stand-out red costumes, are Mattie, Micah, Katy and Jessica.
Performing character tap to "Cat in the Hat" were Alexandria Adams, Amber Bajorek, Kira Jinkins, Micah Perry, Tegan Rea, Kassie Shepard and Ryann Young. The performance, taught by Ms. Sara, involved use of a large fishbowl (plywood) and a door with window as props and different costumes for the different characters in the song. The performers earned a Ruby Award.
Shown here in their colorful and unique costumes for "Cat in the Hat" character tap are Kira, Micah, Tegan, Amber, Alexandria, Kassie and Ryann.
The last group performance of the evening to "Grace" was a beautiful lyrical dance by Lyrical One dancers Amber Bajorek, Katy Gorden, Hannah Moler and Madi Spears. The dancers, taught by Ms. Lindsey, won a Ruby Award.
Shown here after their performance are lyrical dancers Madi and Amber and holding heel stretches are Hannah and Katy.
Kira Jinkins performed a tap number taught to her by Ms. Emily to "Say Hey I Love You. Kira not only earned a Ruby Award, she won First in her Division and also earned a Judge's Award of "Feet on Fire." This was Kira's first competitive solo and we are very proud of her!!!
Kira - we are so proud of you - you just got out there and danced like a trooper - no one would have known that it was your first competitive solo!
Click here for Sunday's Performance Details and Pictures