March 18, 2023

By Jim Dietz

This past weekend, J31 Dance Center’s Company dancers in Lee’s Summit competed in the BravO! National Dance and Talent Competition held at the Liberty Performing Arts Center. BravO!’s mission is to create a regional dance competition that has the spectacular feeling of a national competition, so that all participants could share the most intense and rewarding experience possible.

During the three day event, dancers from J31 performed 43 dances that included Solos, Duo/Trios and Group numbers. Dancers competed in their age group against 13 other dance studios across the Midwest. BravO! also groups dancers by experience level which are: O!verture, Encore!, and their highest level BravO!. There were over 450 dances performed during the event that were judged on technique, performance, musicality / timing and choreography. J31 received 35 awards during this event.

Some of the highlights include:
Encore! Entertainment award – Fabulous (Mini Jazz)
BravO! Entertainment award – RU-MIX (Junior Jazz)
Standing O!vation Award – MIX TAPE (Production)
Choreography award- Terrains (Senior Small Group)
Choreography award – Waiting (Senior Large Group)
Choreography award- Ay Caramba! (Broadway Babes)
IAX Scholarship – Lili Araujo
Teen Miss BravO! – Gracie Ryan
Miss BravO! – Jenna Richards
11 & Under Photogenic Award – Grady Bush
12 & Over Photogenic Award – Nevaeh Bush

MIX TAPE, the Production number in which every J31 company dancer performs, was the highest scoring number of all 11 & under performances.

In the Junior Small Group division in the BravO! Level, J31 earned 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th for their numbers. This is only the 3rd of 6 events for the team this year. They will be traveling to Orlando in June to compete in the Dupree Nationals.

Congratulations to all the dancers, teachers and choreographers for all of their hard work.

J31 strives to provide each unique dancer a nurturing environment in which they can develop not only strong technique, but also a defined sense of self. Visit: J31DanceCenter.com for more information and to schedule a free class today.