Dazzlers take 3rd overall at state finals
SUBMITTED PHOTO
The Maryville High School Dazzlers recently competed in the Missouri Dance Team Association’s state championship in St. Charles Missouri. The Maryville team included: Bottom row, from left: Summer Swalley, Emma Adwell, and Natalie Gallaher Top row, from left: Nicole David, Alex Lewis, Aubrey Jones, Skylar Bundridge, Andaya Backman and coach Ellie Martin.
The season for the Maryville High School dance team, the Dazzlers, returned from the Missouri Dance Team Association’s state championship with three trophies.
In the final performance for coach Ellie Martin, who will graduate from Northwest Missouri State University in April, the Maryville squad finished third overall in Division I.
Maryville took first place in the lyrical jazz dance and third in poms and came in behind Father Tolton Catholic and Barstow, both private schools, in the overall team standings.
The Dazzlers were trying to defend their overall state championship but came up short.
“I’m very, very impressed how we did,” said Martin, who is in her third overall year coaching the team and the first as the head coach. “I wouldn’t use the word disappointed. It is hard to come back and win state again.
“The other teams were very talented and it is a very competitive division. Doing what they did and first overall in lyrical is still, technically, a state championship.”
Maryville scored in the 90s on a scale of 100, but a technical glitch during the pom competition lowered the team score a bit despite it not being the team’s issue.
There were 20 teams at the state finals, 15 of which left the event without any accolades and that included last year’s runners-up Bishop LeBlond.
The season for the Dazzlers started with tryouts the first week of May last year. In July, the team attended a Universal Dance Academy camp and Martin and assistant coach JoAnna Baker choreographed a performance that the Dazzlers showcased on the first day of school.
During the school year, 6 a.m. practices from Monday through Thursday were the norm as they cheered for the football team and then basketball team at home games, as well as attending competitions.
At the regional competition, the KC Classic in December, the Dazzlers took third place in pom and took first in lyrical at Liberty — a precursor to their showing at state last month.
The state competition marked the end of the year for the 9-member squad, the smallest in Martin’s tenure. Her first team had 12 and last year’s state championships squad had 10 and lost one senior to graduation. Two freshmen joined the Dazzlers this season.
Martin attended Millard North in Omaha, where 50 girls tried out for a 20-member dance team. She came to Maryville to attend Northwest and be a Bearcat Stepper. A torn ACL ended her career, but timing worked out well to stay involved in dancing.
Close to the timing of the injury, Maryville’s dance coach graduated and left a vacancy.
“This is my replacement for dance and dance team,” said Miller. “I danced my whole life. I was pretty devastated to not be able to dance and this fell in my lap unexpectedly.”