Ready to kick up their heels

( marshallindependent.com ) Updated: 2006-03-19 17:25:06

The competition season for Marshall's Just for Kix dancers officially starts next Saturday. But first, the girls will be doing a local competition.

The Marshall Just for Kix 9th annual solo/double dance competition will be at 1:30 p.m. Saturday at the old Marshall High School theater.

Marshall Just for Kix director Jackie Louwagie said the solo/double competition is open for Just for Kix dancers in kindergarten through grade 12. It is optional, and the girls come up with their own costumes and choreography.

Louwagie said seven competition groups are also performing on Saturday, as well as Just For Kix assistants Kelsey Brink and McKenzie Meyer.

There is also a new category this year, an "exhibition category, for those who just want to share their talents and not be judged," Louwagie said.

Louwagie said the girls will be judged by dance/cheerleading experts from the area.

On Tuesday night, the fourth-grade Mini Kix team was practicing its competition piece in the Park Side Elementary gymnasium. A few of the girls are taking part in the solo/double competition of the show.

Lauren Weber is doing a solo dance to a song from the Backstreet Boys.

"I'm supposed to use a lot of peppiness and have fun with it," Weber said.

Sydney Hey's solo piece is to a song from "Space Jam."

"It’s very complicated," Hey said.

Hey, who has danced since age 3 and has been a part of Just for Kix since first grade, said she wanted to challenge herself with the routine she choreographed.

"I'm trying to find some moves to work (myself)," Hey said.

Bailey Tomasek and Hannah Pfeiffer have paired up for competition for the last three years. They said it's worked for them.

"We're the same height," Pfeiffer said.

The girls are doing a dance to the song "Five, Six, Seven, Eight" and are going with a Western theme, including cowboy hats.

"It's really glittery," Pfeiffer said about the costumes she and Tomasek are wearing.

And working together has proved successful for Tomasek and Pfeiffer.

"We've gotten first every single time," Tomasek said.

Another duo piece comes from best friends Taryn Rathman and Emily Lendt, who are performing to the song "Mambo Number Five."

"We've been practicing since November," Rathman said.

Rathman and Lendt said they chose the song and started working out the moves earlier this winter. Their moms sometimes critique their piece, they said. Lendt said their costumes include a sequiny shirt.

"Flashy, very flashy," Rathman said of their outfits.

Alissa Thielges and Claire Jenkin are also best friends doing a double piece for competition to the song "Crocodile Rock." This will be Thielges' first time competing, while Jenkin has done one before.

"It's kind of easy, but creative," Thielges said of their dance. "It took a little while to get the moves we wanted."

"We kept changing it," Jenkin said.

The girls said they did practice every Thursday and Saturday. Lately, they've included a Wednesday and Friday practice.

"Our practices have been much, much more serious,"Jenkin said.

The girls said they go to each other' homes for practices.

Jenkin and Thielges said they' like to earn first, second or third with their competition piece.

"Just to place, basically," Jenkin said. "(But) it would be good to have first."