Courtesy of ISDDTA

A new step in competition for dance in the state of Iowa will be held this weekend.

The Iowa State Dance Team Association announced recently, stating that for the first time in their almost 50 years, they will be holding a qualifying round for state solo competitions. IDSTA Executive Director Andrea Dana says that the solo competition has seen a dramatic increase in participation over the past four years, and that is why they decided to include a qualifying round.

The solo competition was held the first weekend of November, but has been the same week as team competitions the last three years due to Covid restrictions in 2020. With the nearly 28-percent increase in participation, paired with scheduling challenges and finding judges, the change was necessary.

Color guard solo competition will be tomorrow at Nevada High School and Middle School, while dance solo competitions will begin Saturday morning at Nevada High School, Newton High School and Berg Middle School in Newton. Based on school enrollment, soloists are split into one of 12 classes for dance and two classes for color guard. The top ten soloists in each class will advance to the finals competition which will be held November 29th to December 1st at the Iowa Events Center in Des Moines.

West Central Valley Dance Coach Hilary Sawyers says that soloists from the team will be competing at Nevada High School. Panorama also has a dance team, while Adair – Casey / Guthrie Center does not.