Jackson dance team wins several awards at national competition

For a group of local dancers, months of practice and determination have paid off with wins in a national talent competition.

Jackson residents Delaney Gibson, 17, Alyvia Hotop, 16, and Ava Stowe, 15, along with Arwen Laubach, 16, of Scott City, won third place at the 2023 Triumph National Talent.

During the competition — which took place June 28 to July 2 in Hot Springs, Arkansas — the quartet, dressed in matching white-and-burgundy outfits, performed a contemporary dance called "Trauma". Set against melancholic music, they swayed, flipped and lifted their way to capture the third-place senior small group title. They also won the High Point Award for best contemporary dance, as well as the best overall choreography for their performance.

The quartet have been dancing individually since they were toddlers and together for the last half a dozen years.

"This was the first time we'd been to nationals, and we weren't expecting that much out of it. ... We were all really surprised we got third overall," Hotop said. "We were all on stage, and we held hands, and they call out top ten. They got to the top five and we all look at each other, thinking, 'I don't think we're going to place.' Then they called fourth and they called third, and it was us and we all looked at each other, thinking 'There's no way!'"

From left, dancers Delaney Gibson, Arwen Laubach, Ava Stowe, Alyvia Hotop performed a melancholic, cascading routine to place third overall at Triumph National Talent in July in Hot Springs, Arkansas.Courtesy of Jackie Robertson

From left, dancers Delaney Gibson, Arwen Laubach, Ava Stowe, Alyvia Hotop performed a melancholic, cascading routine to place third overall at Triumph National Talent in July in Hot Springs, Arkansas.Courtesy of Jackie Robertson

In addition to their awards at the national level, the girls won first place at the Triumph National Talent regional competition in St. Louis over the winter.

"They really make a good, cohesive group because they know each other and they know how each other dances," instructor Jackie Robertson of Jackson-based Dance Extensions said. Dance Extensions, now in its 33rd year, is the studio where Gibson, Hotop, Laubach and Stowe have practiced for most of their lives. Some of their mothers even danced there when they were younger.

The multigenerational influence of Dance Extensions spreads beyond the dancers themselves. Robertson's daughter, Katelyn, serves as the group's choreographer. A former dancer herself, Katelyn Robertson also instructs Jackson Senior High School's dance team — of which Gibson, Hotop and Stowe are part.

"Especially with there only being four of them in this dance, you have a lot of grouping. When you only have an hour and something doesn't work, it just wasn't enough time to figure it out. The week before the competition, on a Sunday, we ended up here (at Dance Extensions) for like six hours," Katelyn Robertson said. "We just crammed it out."

It took nearly a year of weekly practices for the girls to get the dance just right. The "Trauma" routine is more emotional than others they have tried in the past, Hotop said, joking the girls had to cry on stage.

"The first time we went out there, we made a lot of people cry. So that was great," Gibson added. The dance utilizes what Jackie Robertson called a contagion: One dancer's actions flow into the next. It requires dancers familiar with each other's movements. Fortunately for the quartet, they're all best friends.

With Gibson close to graduation, the dancers know there's only so much time before their quartet is no more. Still, their goal is to keep dancing. They're already looking forward to dancing with one another in the fall season starting in August.

"We plan to do this as long as we can," Stowe said.

The girls are all involved in dance teams at school and at least five other dance groups apiece at Dance Extensions. The studio hosted 51 dance groups this year with nearly 200 students participating.