The Dance Company of Minot made a strong showing in the Midwest Starz Dance Competition in Fargo April 17.
The troupe presented 28 of the more than 180 routines by 11 studios attending from across the upper Midwest.
Of those routines, they received a majority of the highest awards presented. Each routine was given an adjudicated placement award, determined by the number of points each routine received. The Dance Company received 11 platinums the highest honor 11 high golds and six golds.
"The results for The Dance Company were outstanding," said Dani Lindee, Dance Company director.
The 28 routines performed by The Dance Company also received extra recognition with 13 different Top Five placements within the dancers' age groups, including the Divas routines this year, "Rhythms," "A Drop In the Ocean," "Ain't Nothing Wrong With That," and "Seven Nation Army" receiving first place through fourth place top senior small groups, respectively.
Seven individual dancers from The Dance Company were also recognized for their performances and chosen to participate in an extra production number during Nationals this year. Those dancers are: Hannah Torgerson, Jessi Hoffer, Sarah White, Jenna Bergman, Breanna Benjamin, Emily Long and Shealyn Hunze.
The Dance Company also received two special awards that day: Best Choreography awarded to Lindee for the Divas' performance of "Seven Nation Army" and Overall Top High Score and Fifth Place High Score of the day awarded to Hannah Torgerson for her performance of her solos, "Nothing Compares To You" and "Telephone," respectively.
This was the first time The Dance Company has attended Midwest Starz and Lindee said she'd already made the decision to return even before the awards were announced.
"I really liked the way that everyone at Midwest Starz organized and planned out their event," she said. "Not only were they usually on time with the posted schedule, but sometimes even early, which is almost never heard of at a dance competition."
Some of The Dance Company dancers will be attending the Midwest Starz National Dance Competition being held in Wisconsin Dells this coming June.