Saturday Dance Competition at Celebration by Mari Vande Poel
On Saturday, March 18th, The Dance Asylum Studio of Dance went to Byron Center for their Celebration Dance Competition. The dance team consists of 7 people, so it’s definitely smaller this year than in previous years. This was a long day with most dancers arriving at 9 am and not leaving until 10:30 pm.
The first dance competed was: “Hit The Road Jack,” a jazz duet with 10 year old Grace and 11 year old Josie. Awards were at 11:30. They competed in the junior division and got “gold.” There was then a decently long break until the next time anyone from our studio competed. The dancers chatted and ate some snacks. Lunch break went quicker than expected and the team started getting ready early.
7th grade Saugatuck student Liberty says, “I wish we had a longer break. It was cut short and the whole schedule was moved forwards by at least a half hour. This made it more stressful when getting ready for our next dance.”
Once the break finished, Mrs. Morgan, one of the many great coaches, Dutch braided all five of the girls' hair. There was a group and a solo around 1:30-2ish. The group dance contained 5 of the team's dancers and a junior solo. The group dance song was “On the Radio,” and that group dance was awarded “hi-gold.” Lottie danced to “Woman,” and was awarded “gold.” Awards for both of these junior dances were at 3:45.
After that, some of the team was done dancing and headed home. The girls who weren’t had a nice long break until they had to dance next at 9 o'clock, so they went to get some dinner. I, however, had my solo at 6:30 and had to start to prepare for that. I stretched and ran the solo for a bit. I danced to the song “Ophelia.” During the third awards ceremony of the day, I was awarded hi-gold and got a costume award for how well it worked with the song and dance.
Next up was a tap duo competing to “Blame it on me,” and a contemporary trio to “Make a spark”. Liberty, a Saugatuck 7th grader, was in both of these dances. She had a quick change and had to go from her trio to her duo fast. She and her cousin, Anubis, accidentally started on the wrong side of the stage for their duet. They had to think on their feet and make it unnoticeable by the judges when they switched sides. They made it look like part of the dance and kept dancing great.
To finish the day at 10, there was the studio’s last awards ceremony. Both dances got hi-gold and the trio got a judge's award for precision and cleanliness. Overall, it was a very successful start to the competition season!
The first dance competed was: “Hit The Road Jack,” a jazz duet with 10 year old Grace and 11 year old Josie. Awards were at 11:30. They competed in the junior division and got “gold.” There was then a decently long break until the next time anyone from our studio competed. The dancers chatted and ate some snacks. Lunch break went quicker than expected and the team started getting ready early.
7th grade Saugatuck student Liberty says, “I wish we had a longer break. It was cut short and the whole schedule was moved forwards by at least a half hour. This made it more stressful when getting ready for our next dance.”
Once the break finished, Mrs. Morgan, one of the many great coaches, Dutch braided all five of the girls' hair. There was a group and a solo around 1:30-2ish. The group dance contained 5 of the team's dancers and a junior solo. The group dance song was “On the Radio,” and that group dance was awarded “hi-gold.” Lottie danced to “Woman,” and was awarded “gold.” Awards for both of these junior dances were at 3:45.
After that, some of the team was done dancing and headed home. The girls who weren’t had a nice long break until they had to dance next at 9 o'clock, so they went to get some dinner. I, however, had my solo at 6:30 and had to start to prepare for that. I stretched and ran the solo for a bit. I danced to the song “Ophelia.” During the third awards ceremony of the day, I was awarded hi-gold and got a costume award for how well it worked with the song and dance.
Next up was a tap duo competing to “Blame it on me,” and a contemporary trio to “Make a spark”. Liberty, a Saugatuck 7th grader, was in both of these dances. She had a quick change and had to go from her trio to her duo fast. She and her cousin, Anubis, accidentally started on the wrong side of the stage for their duet. They had to think on their feet and make it unnoticeable by the judges when they switched sides. They made it look like part of the dance and kept dancing great.
To finish the day at 10, there was the studio’s last awards ceremony. Both dances got hi-gold and the trio got a judge's award for precision and cleanliness. Overall, it was a very successful start to the competition season!