(This is an archive story, please refer to the byline for journalist’s name)
By Braylee Schlegel
The Brewer Honeycombs started off their competition season at the Crowd Pleasers Dance Showcase hosted at Burleson Centennial High School.
“It was a beautiful facility, easy to maneuver through with a big team and a big cheering crowd, and ran very efficiently throughout the entire day.” Director Alesha Walpole said. “It was a great experience.”
For this being their first competition of the season, they ended the day with 25 team and officer awards, 18 Division one solos, and one senior solo semi-finalist. They brought five different team routines to competition as well as three officer routines.
The team routines ranged from dark and mysterious to funny and lighthearted.
“I love getting to portray each and every routine differently with the team,” Captain Kayla Walpole said.
They competed with a military routine, contemporary, pom, lyrical, and novelty. Military is an intense dance to “The Sound of War”. Contemporary is a darker dance and it is to a cover of “Can’t Help Falling in Love”. Their pom is an energetic routine to a remix of “Smooth Criminal”. Their lyrical routine is a hopeful dance to “The Sun is Rising”. And their final routine is a rendition of love-crazed girls chasing after boys with the song “Call Me Maybe”.
“I loved each one of them [the routines] with my whole heart, and I am so, so proud when I watch my beautiful team bring each creative vision to life on that floor!” Alesha Walpole said.
The girls have been preparing for this competition for the entire season, and a lot goes into being ready for an event like this.
“It definitely took many long, hard, and sweaty practices & too many bruises to even count,” Kayla Walpole said. “ Besides that, we had our amazing managers unboxing costume boxes, organizing everyone's bags, and constantly checking on us to make sure we are 100% ready to go, as well as continuous support from all of the parents and our outstanding Booster Club.”
The Honeycombs had a large support system in the audience which consisted of friends and family members.
“I’m beyond proud of these girls and all of their hard work.” sophomore parent Holly Morris said. “The awards they won are a testament to how hard they worked all season.”
The next two competitions will be local. They will compete in their second regional competition in Mansfield with American Dance and Drill Team on Feb. 15. The second is at Weatherford High School and they will compete at the state level with Danceline USA Productions on Feb. 22. And their last competition is Nationals in San Antonio on March 28.