The Dance Challenge is a touring regional dance competition hosted by various high schools and colleges in Iowa, Illinois and West Virginia. The premiere event of this year was hosted in the main gym of PVHS on Saturday, Oct. 5.
The event kicked off at 9 a.m. with dancers performing a total of 125 routines, and the awards ceremony commenced at 5 p.m. Dancers were eligible to compete solos, duets, trios or team routines. Popular styles performed include contemporary, jazz, hip hop, lyrical and pom.
Local dance studios like Above the Barre Dance Academy and Tina’s Dance Studio participated in this event. The studio age divisions consisted of Petites 5-7, Minis 8-10, Juniors 11-13, Teens 14-16 and Seniors 17-18. High school dance teams from Iowa like Davenport Central and Pleasant Valley were involved as well; these divisions were broken down into Middle School, Junior Varsity, Varsity and College.
Hosting a dance competition was a brand new experience for PVHS, but parents, dancers and coaches were thoroughly pleased with the turnout.
Dancers graced the competition floor in the main gym while spectators supported from the bleachers and judges sat at their table in the front. The music classrooms were used as dressing rooms, and the lower gym was used as a practice space for dancers to run their routines before competing.
The space provided a functional and efficient setup for The Dance Challenge. PV Platinum (PVP) dancers even crafted over 20 posters to hang in the school to welcome the other dancers and send positive messages to their fellow competitors.
With countless hours of preparation, the PVP dancers and parent volunteers made this event possible. “The first meeting to plan for The Dance Challenge happened last spring, so we had been preparing for a while,” PVP Executive Committee President Val Barsness explained. “Everyone who played a part in the planning of this dance competition was passionate about creating a positive experience for all competitors. We were fortunate that all families and dancers from PVP were able to volunteer their time to help out at this competition.”
PVP parents and dancers were all assigned jobs to help ensure the day ran smoothly. They worked at admissions tables managing tickets, greeted and escorted arriving teams, monitored gym doors, checked in dances backstage, sold concessions, posted on social media, delivered good luck grams and sold merchandise.
Senior Varsity dancer Molly Butcher was a runner for backstage check-in. “I took dancers from the dressing room to the backstage area where they checked in before competing. I was super excited to help out because this was PVP’s first time hosting a competition, and it was great to see everyone perform their dances for this season,” Butcher expressed.
The Dance Challenge held at PVHS opened up a multitude of positive opportunities.
This competition was especially beneficial for high school dance teams preparing for the upcoming Iowa State Dance & Drill Team Association Solo Championships and Team Championships. The JV team and eight varsity state soloists from Pleasant Valley got to compete as well. “Competing at TDC allowed us to showcase the hard work we’ve put into our solos this year. It was a ‘practice round’ for state qualifiers that are later this month,” said Butcher. “We performed our solos in front of a crowd, which helped us become more comfortable and confident. And we were able to get feedback before we compete at state.”
In addition, the PVP Dance Team was able to fundraise money from concessions, bake sales and a portion of entry fees. These proceeds will fund the needs of the PVP program and will be put in the budget for purchases like costumes, food, transportation and gifts.
The benefits of this event even extended to the greater Quad City community. The PVP Dance Team opened up tables for vendors to rent in order to sell a variety of products. Vendors included Bandit’s Bees, The Crazy Craft Box, BEMER, LipSense and others. Attendees were welcome to explore these pop-up shops and their offered products.
After being successful hosts, PVP hopes to establish this competition as a new tradition. “The board will decide if it is something that we will continue to do in the future. We were very excited to host the event and see the great performances this year,” Barsness stated.
Now that the event produced the desired results, the dancers will turn their focus to prepare for the upcoming state competitions.
arslon • Oct 30, 2024 at 5:50 pm
Through these experiences, dancers develop resilience and the ability to bounce back from failure, an invaluable skill in navigating life’s challenges. Teamwork and Camaraderie: While dance may seem like a solitary art form, competitions emphasise the importance of teamwork.