SunDancers and Warrior Pride participated in the annual competition, Westwood Dance Classic, from Friday, Feb. 12 to Sat., Feb. 13 in the field house and gyms. The broad categories available to compete in were Teams, Officers, Large and Small Ensembles, Duets, and Solos.

The region wide-event had performers as young as kindergarteners and even had one dance by the University of Texas Roustabouts. After all of the performances, the solo finalists danced again.

“The first time I did it, to find out if I made finals or not was really scary because you don’t know if you’re going to make it or not,” solo finalist Kendel Jones ‘16 said. “But then the second time is so freeing and once you release that anxiety it’s all just about the performance and you get into it. “

Finally, the competition ended with the award announcements where participants anxiously waited to see how they did.

“I think we did overall very well, we didn’t compete; this competition was just an exhibition for us,” Lauren Price ‘17 said. “We showcased our dances and that was great for us because it allowed us to perform our dances how we would for next weekend’s competition with the same atmosphere.”

In addition, the event served as time not only for dancers get to practice their moves and compete, but they also had the opportunity to bond with their teammates.

“I like hanging out as a team and doing all our dances for the first time,” Tori Loper ‘17 said.

With an energetic crowd filled with friends, family, and directors boosting their energy, some students took home awards, but more importantly, they had a great time.

“My favorite part of performing is the audience’s reactions because every once in a while there’s a huge outburst of claps and it’s really cool and gets you really excited and you just wanna dance more and dance bigger and fuller,” Jones said.

Awards:

Ally Elliot and Tori Loper – 2nd place 10th – 12th Grade Duet

Isabel Prchlik, Madeline Gibson, Baleigh Williams – 2nd place 10th-12th Grade Small Ensemble

SunDancers – 1st place Team Lyrical Large Varsity

Warrior Pride – 2nd place Team Hip Hop

Warrior Pride – 1st place Team Lyrical

Warrior Pride – Gold (scoring 90 points or above from every judge on any routine)

Speciality Award “Speaking the Truth”

Abby Scott – Runner-Up 11th – 12th grade Solo