Local south sound high school dancers competed in a WIAA dance competition “Full Out Dance” hosted at Timberline High School by the Timberline Dance Team on Saturday, December 9, 2023. The event was one of the first dance competitions of the year and allowed teams to qualify for WIAA District competitions. Teams had to score a 195 to qualify for Districts.
Local Thurston County teams were represented by Black Hills, Capital, North Thurston, Olympia, River Ridge, Timberline, and Tumwater high schools. The Tumwater Parks and Recreation also had two teams competing in their “Midway” and “Junior” categories.
This year’s “Full Out Dance” competition was the largest, in terms of number of teams competing, with 16 teams in total. Timberline has hosted since it began the event five years ago.
Timberline High School dance head coach Colette Hudson loves the opportunity to have so many teams competing. “The teams were really supporting each other and brought a level of talent and athleticism as they competed,” remarked Husdson. “I was proud of my team. The motivation and determination in this team is phenomenal. I am excited for future competitions, nationals, districts, and state and looking forward to what goals these dancers will crush.”
Kim Griffin, who coaches Tumwater High School and the younger teams from the Tumwater Park and Recreation program, complimented the organizational planning for the event “We love the Timberline competition and Colette is always so accommodating and takes such good care of my Tumwater Parks and Rec Teams,” Griffin stated. “We are excited for the year and Tumwater is focusing on our ‘3G’ (Grace, Gratitude, and Grit) mindset and fine-tuning our material for DTU (Dance Team Union) Nationals in February. We have tackled some big obstacles this year and our officers have risen to the occasion.”
Tumwater High School took home first-place trophies for Dance and Hip-Hop catagories.
Capital High School won the Pom category (250), narrowly scoring above Tumwater (244.90) with Olympia grabbing the third-place spot (221.80). Capital and Tumwater will send strong teams in the 2A and 3A Pom category to the 2024 State Championship held in Yakima March 2024. Tumwater looks to defend its 2023 State 2A titles it won for Pom and Dance.
Mariah Mao, Olympia High School dance team’s head coach, was excited to be at their first competition. “We like to support Timberline and it is just great to kick off our year as we prepare for competition season that starts in January,” stated Mao. “We have a younger team but a great set of dancers and I’m looking forward to a great year.” Olympia will compete against other 4A WIAA schools.
Capital head coach Jaci Gruhn also loved the opportunity for her team to compete at a local event to prepare for the competition season. “This is a great local competition where we can see and support most of the local teams,” Gruhn remarked. “We have a fun group of kids this year who dance for each other at practice.”
