There's no dancing aroundbrit: the Emerald Belles are topnotch. At the ShowMakers state competition atbrTexas State University last month, the Carroll Senior High School Emerald Belles placed first in high kick, first in jazz and first in lyrical.brAdditionally, they were awarded Overall Entertainment, Creative Costuming,brJudge’s Award, and Outstanding Choreography, Showmanship, Technique andbrPrecision in all three dances. They also were named in Line of Champions of thebrcontest and second place overall in division.
The officers competed andbrwere awarded first place in their jazz, lyrical and contemporary routines. Theybrreceived creative costuming for their lyrical, Judge's award, OutstandingbrChoreography, Showmanship and Technique in all three dances, andbrOutstanding Precision in contemporary. They also were named in Line ofbrChampions of the contest and second place overall in division.
Several of the Bellesbrcompeted in the solo category. In the 11th/12th solo division, JessicabrBowman won first place, Laurel Kavanagh second place, and Sophia Parrish fifthbrplace. In the 9th/10th division, Kelly Alspaw won second place and TessbrWilliams third place. Belles named as a semi-finalist were Claire McCoy,brClaire Berutti, Sarah Scheffler, Catherine Brannon, Bella Cox, Ashley Greene,brErica Bradford, Erica Darrah, Bethany Sauls, Molly McKinnon and KathrynbrLarkin.
In the large ensemblebrdivision, the following Belles entered a high-kick routine and won first place.brThe group included Haylee Spriggs, Elizabeth Meyer, Kristen Gentry, EmmabrJoy, Natalie Seitz, Morgan Kay, Riley Anderson, Taylor Thibodeau, AllisonbrKinnamore, Rachel Broadway, Madisyn Daniel, Ashleigh Christmann, CatherinebrBrannon, Meghan McCoy, Bethany Sauls, Ashley Greene, Kelly Alspaw and MollybrMckinnon. In the duet category, Peyton Faltys and Claire Berutti won firstbrplace overall.
The Belles are under thebrdirection of Melissa Page and assisted by Kathryn Dobrow. Click here to viewbrthe full results from the competition.