At Clackamas High School on Saturday, dance teams came together for the first official competition of the dance/drill season.
Hosted by the Cavalettes, the Clackamas gym was a great stage for teams to debut the early stages of their work so far.
Twenty-one teams took the floor, showcasing the Pom, Jazz, Hip Hop, Novelty, Contemporary, and Modern categories. If the number of entries allowed it, categories were broken up into size classifications of 1-4A, 5A, and/or 6A.
At this early point in the season, teams were testing the waters in their chosen categories. The DDCA Category Championship (also referred to as the DDCA Invitational in recent years) is just around the corner in December, and the OSAA State Championships, further in the distance, are in March. Some teams choose to carry a routine or two all the way through the full season, and some of the routines seen over the weekend are just with teams for a short time.
The nerves and excitement was palpable as dancers glided through the halls of Clackamas High School early in the morning, applying makeup, double checking costume pieces, and quickly checking out the gym for a sound check. Certainly a full and long day for the competitors with two rounds and final awards awarded in the evening.
Twenty-one teams filled the day with bold moves, cheeky grins, angsty eyebrows, and fabulous formations. Giving their all to impress the supportive judging panels, participating teams included dancers from Barlow, Canby, Forest Grove, Gladstone, Gresham, Lakeridge, Lebanon, Molalla, Nelson, North Eugene, Pendleton, Putnam, Reynolds, Scappoose, Sheldon, South Albany, Sprague, West Albany, West Linn, Wilsonville, and the host team, Clackamas.
Families and friends of the dancers flooded onto the bleachers and the Canby Cougars took the floor to begin the day of competition. The Jazz category was divided into three groups: 1-4A, 5A, and 6A. Top spots for Jazz went to Pendleton Rhythmic Mode (1-4A), Canby Cougars (5A), and Nelson Hawks (6A).
Next in the line-up came Hip Hop, with a combined 1-6A group. It is unknown why the field wasn’t divided into various classifications, but this combined group was the largest line-up of the day with seven teams.
Congratulations to Lakeridge (6A) for earning the only first place trophy offered in the Hip Hop category, scoring 81.56. The top three placements in the Hip Hop category were earned by teams of 6A schools: Lakeridge, West Linn, and Gresham respectively. A close round of scores, with less than a two point difference between these teams.
Novelty closed out the first round with another combined classification grouping. After three clever showings by Sprague, Pendleton, and West Linn, the final top prize went to Sprague with their routine titled “The Sandman.”
The first round of competition concluded with a novice and advanced drill down. As it is very early in the season, the fabulous BJ Cerny, drill down caller extraordinaire, led some beginner drill-down participants through a light tutorial of drill down technique, and then got down to business.
Novice top ten included the following dancers: Elsie Gefael (Molalla), Natily Sicard (Pendleton), Kaylee Lillie (Pendleton), Katie Lin (Scappoose), Maddyx Ruzanski (West Linn), Mackenzie Claussen (Scappoose), Hailynn Nunn (Scappoose), Charlotte Honkin (Gresham), Amy White (Gresham), Ashlyn MacKinder (South Albany)
The advanced drill down finalists were: Naomi Hamlin (Sprague), Elise Quinlan (Canby), Grace Robinson (Canby), Cierra Arstill-Brown (Scappoose), Onika Hernandez (Wilsonville), Liberty Tzeo (Reynolds), Kaitlyn McCord (West Linn), Ellie Geesey (Pendleton), Talia Atkinson (Clackamas), Dylan Bush (Clackamas).
In the second round of competition, Contemporary, Modern, and Pom were the featured categories. Contemporary had three groupings, separating 1-4A, 5A, and 6A. Respectively, first place wins were awarded to Molalla (1-4A), West Albany (5A), and Clackamas (6A). Another close race among the 6A grouping, with less than two points dividing Clackamas, Lakeridge, and Forest Grove.
For the always energetic Pom category, also divided into three classification groups, the winning performances included Scappoose (1-4A), West Albany (5A), and Forest Grove (6A). Forest Grove also landed the top score of the entire competition with an impressive 84.94.
Modern closed out the afternoon with a winning performance by the Canby Cougars, sharing a routine titled “A Modern Conundrum.” Three teams competed in the Modern category, with Sprague, ever-so soft and dreamy, fun times with Sheldon, and a musical conundrum by Canby.
Clackamas Competition - First Place Finishes
- Jazz (6A): Nelson (74.22)
- Jazz (5A): Canby (81.44)
- Jazz (1-4A): Pendleton (70.22)
- Hip Hop: Lakeridge (81.56)
- Novelty: Sprague (73.56)
- Contemporary (6A): Clackamas (79.94)
- Contemporary (5A): West Albany (80.22)
- Contemporary (1-4A): Molalla (66.06)
- Pom (6A): Forest Grove (84.94)
- Pom (5A): West Albany (79.50)
- Pom (1-4A): Scappoose (72.31)
- Modern: Canby (82.11)
- All Results
Quite a dynamic day, flawlessly hosted by the Cavalettes and efficiently adjudicated by a wonderful team of judges. Next week, the competitions continue at two venues. Reynolds’ “Eastside Dance Festival” and West Albany’s “Celebration of Dance” will host another cluster of teams, bringing to the floor the solo, duo, trio categories. A lovely way to feature individual dancers from various teams.
healeyjamesr@gmail.com
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