Dancin' Devils earn national title

Lee Ward, The Daily Independent, Ashland, Ky.
·2 min read

May 7—RUSSELL — Russell High School's Varsity Dance Team won the 2021 National Dance Alliance National Championship for the Small Varsity Pom Division in April.

They also earned third in the nation in Medium Gameday and fourth in the nation in Medium Hip Hop.

Coached by Lauren Gibbs Burgess and assistant Rachel Francis Ferguson of TJS dance studio in Greenup, the team competed virtually because of COVID-19 restrictions, which was a blessing and a curse, Gibbs said.

"It seemed like, in the beginning, it was going to be better because you can retape it and do it until it's perfect," Burgess said. "The problem is, it's never perfect enough. The girls get tired and it's stressful. We retaped many times. I hope we never have to do it again, but it worked out for the best."

Another drawback was a lack of audience.

"They didn't have that adrenaline and crowd involvement like they do in a real competition setting," Burgess said. "It's a big performance without anyone to watch."

After the tapes were submitted, teams got feedback and were allowed to retape their performaces using tips from judges. Teams also were able to see preliminary results, but teams could not view other teams' performances until the competition was over. Burgess said they had planned to retape, but fate had other plans.

"We were in second place in preliminaries and we thought we should retape, but one of the seniors blew out her knee the Saturday before we were going to retape," Burgess said. "Doing a film without her didn't feel right, so we submitted the same video and prayed."

Even practicing for the competition was a challenge. In fact, there was a stretch of time, because of COVID-19 restrictions, there was no practice for the team, even though teams from other states were able to practice because of the difference in state COVID-19 restrictions.

"When we were allowed back to practice, we followed guidelines, and once we could practice, we did as much as we could and wore our masks," Burgess said. "All the girls got vaccinated and we didn't have any issues where anyone got COVID. We were very lucky."

Members of the team are: seniors — Autumn Jeffrey, Anna Sophia Hester, Sydney Hieneman, Bailee Smith and Zoe Wiget; juniors — Gracie Bates, Emory Kirk, Macy Newman and Sabrina Sheridan; sophomore — Morgan Clifton; and freshmen — Sofia Ortíz and Camryn Vinson.

Team members win national championship jackets, which will be presented at a banquet and jacket ceremony at 6:30 p.m. May 25 at The Edge in Russell.

Meanwhile, the team will compete on Sunday for the Region 4 KHSAA title and then for the KHSAA state championship on May 16 in Winchester.

(606) 326-2661 — lward@dailyindependent.com