DANCE TEAM PERFORMS — Front Row: (L to R): Kayla Scholfield, Hunter Larson, and Haley Seston. Back Row: (L to R): Rachael Shipley, Brooklyn Stehling, Katie Riley, Brynn Bergeson, and Coach Vicki Seston. —photo submitted
The Colfax Varsity Dance Team (Division 5 – Pom/ Division 3 – Jazz) started their competitive season at the Menomonie Holiday Classic this past weekend, Saturday, December 7. This competition is a non-conference open competition. Each year the dance teams that attend this competition varies. Colfax competed in Pom and Jazz as a team. Three dancers, Kayla Scholfield, Hunter Larson, and Katie Riley, competed in the Small School Ensemble category. One dancer, Haley Seston, competed in the Small School Solo category.
The team worked incredibly hard this year to get prepared for this competition. They attended two dance camps to work on skills/routines and many dancers attended an optional WACPC dance conference in November. When they had time off, they scheduled captains’ practices in which all dancers participated. They work really well as a team, and they work hard to highlight each dancers’ strengths and to help each other improve. They support each other in all they do and it shows in their performances and how much they enjoy dancing. One highlight about this team is all choreography is student lead. The routines this team competes with are not bought but designed by the dancers themselves.
The Pom routine in the Small School Pom category placed 12th out of 14 teams. The scoring was close and there were only 10 points separating the Divisison 5 pom teams. The top scorers in this category were all Division 4 pom teams except Aquinas who took second place. Haley as a soloist placed 9th at this competition out of 14 soloists. Kayla, Hunter and Katie performed a Trio and medaled in 2nd place out of 6 ensemble teams. The Jazz routine earned a 4th place trophy with tough competition. Prescott (Division 2 Jazz) earned 1st place, Aquinas (Division 3 Jazz) earned 2nd place, Ellsworth (Division 2 Jazz) earned 3rd, and Colfax (Division 3 Jazz) earned 4th place. The judges all loved the emotion displayed throughout this entire routine as well as the switch in music. One judge commented, “Great growth from story to a group work section.”
This competition being the first one is a great place to get feedback on routines and to continue growing and improving as the competitive season continues. Next weekend, Saturday, December 14, the team will be attending the River Falls Dance Invitational. They will again perform their Pom and Jazz routines as a team and the Trio group (Kayla, Hunter, & Katie) and Soloist (Haley) will again compete in this non-conference open competition.
