Each time the Sapphires take the dance floor, it is a display of skill and artistic synchronization as they perform difficult dances with ease. It was this talent that led to the troupe winning the Ascension State 2022 Grand Champions. Even as it appeared effortless for the dancers, there was an immense amount of work that went into becoming the state champions. 

“My favorite part about coaching this season was to see the progress we made from the beginning of January, when we really started focusing and honing in on our team dances, and then onto our state championship,” Sapphires director Kirsten Gillespie said, “Our girls worked so hard, and to see the progress they made from January to the beginning of March was really incredible.”

There were three keys to their success: choreography, practice, and execution. Before they can even hit the stage, the leaders of the troupe must choreograph and clean the dances.

“We have a couple of choreographers come and teach during our August line camp, that’s our preseason time, and then we also have our dance officers choreograph two team dances,” Gillespie said. “We also have choreographers come in for our four officer dances, and then Ms. Christopher choreographs our social officer dance.”

The officers of Sapphires are the leaders of the team, and as such are a big part of choreographing dances or just making sure everyone does their job. They also perform in a few of their own dances at competitions.

“As a lieutenant, I’m in charge of a group of girls, called a company, and we have a roll call when we have to compete, so basically I make sure they have all their costumes, their makeup, their earrings, et cetera,” junior Marissa Levin said.  “We [also] have to choreograph dances, clean dances, make sure they are following the rules.”

Once the dances are choreographed and prepared, the team spends every morning diligently working to perfect it.

“[We practice at] 6:15 every morning, and then some after school practices. We are constantly practicing. You get tired, you want to make sure you keep being a team player, so just having the energy is difficult,” Levin said, “The hardest part is making it look easy, because it is not.”

Finally, after all the hard work and dedication, the Sapphires take center stage. 

“We’ve always had other teams come in and watch us to see our dances and see how we’re doing this year. So that’s nerve wracking, because they know when something goes wrong or if a dance is going good or not,” senior Colonel Jensen Vann said. ‘And of course the judges are really stressful, because they are talking into mics the entire time, and you can see them giving [us] corrections.”

Even after their first two spring performances didn’t end in first place finishes, the Sapphires rebounded for their huge win at state.

“It was crazy, because at the previous competition, we competed against the same team and we got fourth. They got first, but then at this competition we tied for first, which was totally unexpected and we were all so happy. All of our hard work paid off,” Vann said. 

Along with winning first overall, the dance troupe won awards in the Social Officers, Dance Officers, and even Solo categories.

“For the whole team, we compete in four team dances. That goes for all overalls, and then we have four officer dances. [The judges] basically grade choreography, technique, and performance, then they grade you based off of your size,” Levin said. “We are a large team, and for state they’ll base you on every single size, so we won in every single size. 

“We had been in different places our last two contests, so we were definitely pushing towards beating both of those placements. For state, we always have a lot of alumni support. Families come back and support these Sapphires that have been working really hard,” Gillespie said, “It was pretty special, for sure.”