Dance teams took over the gyms, classrooms and hallways of Canby High School last weekend.
The Canby Cougars hosted over a dozen teams at their annual Winter Festival of Dance. Well attended by teams and spectators, the second competition of the new year was a fun event with nearly all current categories represented.
A drill-down battle and an unofficial “dance party” category wrapped up the event after over 40 team performances. A dance party that was enthusiastically received by teams, as they anxiously waited for final scores to be tallied and official awards to be announced.
Teams that joined the Canby Dance Team hosts were as follows: Clackamas, Crater, David Douglas, Forest Grove, Gresham, Sprague, Lakeridge, Lebanon, Pendleton, Reynolds, Sam Barlow, Silverton, Thurston, Valley Catholic, Wilsonville, and several club and junior teams from Molalla and Forest Grove.
Jazz, Hip Hop, Pom, Traditional, and Show all made appearances on Saturday. Although the divisions didn’t have an extensive field of teams in each category, most with 2-4 teams, there was a clear separation of 1-4A, 5A, and 6A groupings for each category. This breakdown allowed for teams to compete against a more equitable line-up based on their school classifications.
In addition to the high school teams taking the floor, were a few Junior High and Club teams. From Disney Princesses to Justin Timberlake swag, all dance levels and artistic expressions had moments to share with an enthusiastic audience.
In the Traditional category, entries were divided into three groupings. During this part of the season, some teams use all or part of their Contemporary or Modern routines from earlier in the season and enter them into the Traditional category. Clackamas took the lead for 6A against three other teams: Sprague, Lakeridge, and Barlow. Clackamas’ Traditional routine is one of those carryover routines from the Fall Contemporary category, an athletic and effective offering titled, Here. This routine received the highest score of the day with an 83.17.
Also in the Traditional category, with a 5A line-up of four teams, Silverton landed the top spot against Wilsonville, Thurston, and Crater. First place for a second week in a row for Silvertion. Valley Catholic debuted a new routine against Pendleton for their State Championship journey and went home with the first place 1-4A Traditional trophy with their routine, Losing My Grip.
Valley Catholic, Silverton, and Clackamas also took the lead in their other category entries as well. Valley Catholic and Silverton were the winning teams with their Jazz routines (1-4A and 5A respectively). Clackamas landed the top spot in the Show category, with a routine titled Hey. An upbeat offering to a mix of Justin Timberlake’s “My Love.”
In the Show category, Clackamas and Sprague were official competitors, while Canby debuted as an exhibition (as hosts, Canby chose not to compete). As usual, the Show category has inventive and creative ideas, each with unique and impressive perspectives on movement and design. Show teams… Hey. We see you!
Forest Grove and Lebanon had a successful day in their categories as well. Each taking home two first place trophies in both Hip Hop and Pom, 6A and 5A divisions respectively. Other entries in these categories were 6A teams Lakeridge, Gresham, and Reynolds, and 5A teams Wilsonville and Thurston.
Also attending from Forest Grove, were the youngsters from Regeneration Dance Team. Joining Regeneration's Junior and Club teams on the pre-high school aged roster, were several groups from Molalla. No doubt some of these young dancers will be seen on a high school dance team very soon.
After hosting last weekend, Gresham took the floor again at Canby with a Jazz (6A) entry that received first place and rounded out all of the high school wins for the day.
The unofficial “dance party” win was crowned to the youngsters of the Regeneration Dance Team (with some help from the Forest Grove High School team). How could they lose with all those amazing little dancers full of enthusiasm and excitement in the mix.
Winter Festival of Dance - First place performances (High School divisions only)
- Traditional (6A): Clackamas (83.17)
- Traditional (5A): Silverton (76.00)
- Show: Clackamas (79.39)
- Pom (6A): Forest Grove (77.28)
- Pom (5A): Lebanon (73.78)
- Hip Hop (6A): Forest Grove (82.83)
- Hip Hop (5A): Lebanon (74.44)
- Jazz (6A): Gresham (69.78)
- Jazz (5A): Silverton (77.28)
- all results
The drill-down competition had a novice and an advanced round, with top ten winners as follows:
- Novice: Brooke Downs, Amanda Nguyen, Cherrnoh Kargbo, Ellie Geesey, Makenzi Hamilton, Risa Merrel, Alannys Townsend, Mason Astley, Calynn Andrada, and Stella Wylie.
- Advanced: Onika Hernandez, Talia Atkinson, Alaina Schlegel, Eva Ujifusa, Tony Willingham, Deegan Thomas, Sofia Potts, Dayessi Orozco Montalvo, Liberty Tzeo, and Layla Cassity
The competitions continue this weekend at Gladstone with more teams and more dances. The OSAA championships are seven weeks away!
healeyjamesr@gmail.com
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