The intermission is over, and the so-called Act II of the Dance/Drill season has begun.
Over the weekend, Gresham was host to fifteen teams for the first competition of 2025.
With a slight shift in dynamic from Act I (competitions held in November and December of 2024), several teams are entering the scene for the first time this season. Joining the many carryover routines from Act I, most teams are choosing to also dive into new routines with fresh ideas for the second half of the season.
Aloha, Benson, Crater, Grant, Lincoln, Mountainside, Parkrose, Rex Putnam, Roosevelt, Sheldon, Sherwood, Silverton, Tigard, Tualatin, and West Linn were in the mix at Gresham’s Mt. Hood Winter Rhythm Dance Competition.
Aloha, Benson, Crater, Franklin, and Tualatin are all entering the competition season for the first time. Also, Show and Traditional categories are now in the mix, joining the Pom, Hip Hop, Jazz and Kick category options that we have seen all season.
Act ll, so to speak, brings the OSAA Dance/Drill State Championships into focus as teams work to qualify two of their best routines for a chance to make a final statement in March. Qualification for the State Championship requires at least one routine to be within the required time limits and have at least five dancers in the routine. The second routine must have the required time limits, at least five dancers, and reach a score of 70 points or higher out of 100.
As teams fine tune their work over the next few weeks, successful qualifications of one or two routines will create the final line-up for the State Championships. The Gresham Competition last weekend has already started to reveal that roster, but there is plenty of time for all teams to find themselves on the big stage at the Salem Pavilion in a couple months.
The Gresham Competition also served as Crater’s debut performance as a Dance/Drill team this year. Congratulations to Crater, on giving Southern Oregon some new representation. “We are ready to learn and…do our best. It’s a great world to witness and be a part of,” Lauren Troyer, Crater Head Coach. The Dance/Drill community is excited to have you in the mix.
There were some strong performances for the first weekend out after the winter break. Sherwood and Tualatin had remarkable routines in some densely packed categories. Sherwood earned two first places, Hip Hop (6A) and Pom (5A/6A), and Tualatin edged Sherwood out of the top spot in Traditional (6A), with a Superior rating and a score of 85.22. Tualatin had an excellent day for their first competition of the 24/25 season, but the unofficial honor of the highest score of the day went to Sherwood’s Hip Hop routine, scoring an 87.22.
Tigard and Silverton also had remarkable performances in their categories as well, as Tigard held their own in two of the most crowded categories, Traditional (6A) and Pom (5A/6A). Tigard earned third place in Traditional and second place in Pom. Silverton, fresh in the mix this season, represented 5A talent very well with two wins, Traditional (5A) and Jazz (5A).
Parkrose and West Linn rounded out the category wins, with Parkrose taking top honors in Hip Hop (5A) and West Linn taking home the first place trophy for the Show Category. As it has been for most of the season so far, Kick was not represent at the Gresham event, and it remains to be seen if there are teams participating in the category for the remainder of the season.
Job well done by all teams. Top placements are listed below"
Mt Hood Winter Rhythm Dance Competition - First place performances:
- Traditional (6A): Tualatin (85.22)
- Traditional (5A): Silverton (82.94)
- Show: West Linn (69.83)
- Pom (5A/6A): Sherwood (82.33)
- Hip Hop (6A): Sherwood (87.22)
- Hip Hop (5A): Parkrose (73.39)
- Jazz (6A): Tualatin (79.00)
- Jazz (5A): Silverton (76.22)
- all results
The drill-down portion of the competition honored some skilled individual dancers. The “simon says” game of military commands right-faced, left-faced and marched the participants down to a top 10 list in novice and a top ten list in advanced. The novice top ten finalists were as follows, in no particular order: Bella Capellas, Lucy Hughes, Hannah Steinmeyer, Sienna Baca, Juliet Briggs, Lillianna Johnson, Jolleen Rosborough, Evelyn Troxel, Emery Koviak, Lucielle Zavin. Advanced finalists were Aubrey Bailey, Emma Hale, Cloe Roberts, Sophie Monahan, Chloe Williams, Kylie Crawford, Ruby Nunley, Kaitlyn McCord, Brooke Thomsen, and Anne-Sophie Lucky. Great job dancers.
At the Gresham event, an additional unsanctioned round provided opportunities for solos, duos, and trios, to take the floor; however, for the remainder of the season, the DDCA (Dance/Drill Coaches Association) and OSAA sponsored events are currently only following and reporting the team categories that will be included at the Dance/Drill State Championship event in March: Pom, Hip Hop, Jazz, Show, Traditional, and Kick. Until next year, good job and good luck to all the teams and dancers that compete in these additional individual categories.
Gresham hosted these brave teams well. This first competition of the new year is always a rollercoaster ride to prepare for while dancers recover and re-engage their groove after the winter breaks. Next Saturday (February 1), Canby will play host for many teams that were not seen at the Gresham event. Then, continuing with the “rollercoaster ride” metaphor, comes the climb with all the twists, turns, loop-de-loops, and inevitably a freefall towards the State Championships (March 21-22). The ride is fun and wild and a little scary, but that’s why we love it.
healeyjamesr@gmail.com
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