Many CHS students are dancers at the local Edelweiss Dance Academy in Leavenworth, taught by former Cascade student, Briar Hoper. Briar teaches jazz, ballet, and pointe. Once a year Edelweiss attends their only competition in Coeur D'Alene, Idaho.
“Every year competition is fun; it is a great experience for the kids; they all love it," said dance teacher, Briar Hoper.
Enduring a four-and-a-half-hour drive, most of the dancers left school early on Friday, March 1st to be prepared to perform all day Saturday. The CHS dancers include Georgia Holm (9), Coal Fiano (10), Mia Schons (10), Ellie Holm (12), Mary Ising (12), and Rhetta Cummings (12). Most of them have been attending this competition for years: “It’s my favorite time of the dance season,” said Holm. They start preparing their solos in August and work on them up until March. After their annual Nutcracker performance, they begin learning new group dances for competition, spending multiple hours a week memorizing and practicing the choreography. Briar choreographs all the dances, cuts all the music, and orders all the costumes.
“Every year competition is fun; it is a great experience for the kids; they all love it. It is bittersweet this year, because I have my three seniors that are leaving me. It is always a great experience,” said dance teacher, Briar Hoper.
In total this year, the high school dancers performed four group dances, and five solos. Most of the competition was on Saturday, March 2nd with one solo performed by Georgia Holm on Friday and one solo performed by Fiano on Sunday as well as a pointe trio. The dancers’ work doesn’t go unnoticed, at the end of the night there are awards ceremonies where group dances and solos receive medals for their performance.
"I kind of think [awards] are really exhausting, it is really late at night after we have danced, and we are still in hair and makeup, and we are just ready to go back to the hotel. It is really gratifying when you receive an award, and the most fun part is being up on the stage with all of the kids in the studio and it's just a really fun atmosphere and everyone is really happy for each other,” explained Elli Holm. The order of placing is Saphire, Emerald, Ruby, and the best is Diamond. This year most of the studio earned Ruby metals. Ellie Holm also received the category award for ‘Future Gems Ballet Soloist’.
On Sunday, two of the high school dancers competed in the Senior Dance Down where they learned a twenty-four-count dance and performed it for the judges. “It was really fun; it was definitely a lot of work. I am glad I did it, and I look forward to doing it next year too,” explained Georgia Holm.
Emotions were high for dance teacher, Briar: “It is bittersweet this year because I have my three seniors that are leaving me,” explained Hoper. Ellie Holm, Mary Ising, and Rhetta Cummings attended their last competition as performers.
The competition ended with one last awards ceremony at a late four-thirty in the afternoon, causing some dancers to get home at ten-thirty at night. It was a memorable weekend for the dancers: full of early mornings, late nights, hairspray, makeup, and sparkles.