Havre dancers to compete at national event in Las Vegas

Students of Havre’s Studio of Dance and Arts are preparing to go this week to Sheer Elite Nationals, a top-tier national competition in Las Vegas scheduled for July 7-10.

Christina Lickfold, president of the studio’s board of directors, estimated the studio is taking 25 dancers to the four-day competition and convention. That number is up from four dancers when they first participated two years ago.

“Well, their training has definitely paid off. They work very hard. We have some girls there at the studio who rehearse up to 15, 17 hours a week. So their hard work is definitely paying off,” Lickfold said.

“And we have quite a few soloists going this year. We also have a tap piece that placed first place overall for the group dances at the Sheer Elite regionals competition. So they’re going to bring that tap dance and hopefully very well there,” she added.

Tropicana Las Vegas serves as the venue and host hotel for the national event, what the Sheer Elite International company website describes as an opportunity for the best of the best to showcase their talent while making new friends and life-long memories.

“It’s quite a challenge there — the dancers, Mexico, they bring dancers from obviously all over the United States to come compete. So it’s a big event. I think the last time that we went, I would say there were probably over 300 dancers. So it’s a big competition,” Lickfold said.

Lickfold said one of the studio’s veteran dancers, Chloe Bricker, who is listed on the studio’s website as a contemporary dance student teacher also helping with ballet, will be competing at nationals.

Bricker recently won a teen title at another competition called Thunderstruck.

“So I got a Miss Teen Dance Icon for Thunderstruck. I was just very proud to get it because I worked so hard for a very long time, like nine years. And doing something like this really shows how hard I worked and that the work has paid off,” Bricker said.

“I usually dance every single day, around five o’clock till 9:45 or sometimes even earlier. And yeah, I just, I’m there all the time. I’m at the studio more than I am at my own house. Yeah, I just, I don’t know, it’s just my life now. I’ve always done it,” she continued.

She said she is excited to go to the competition this week.

“I’ve seen multiple shows, like dance shows — Dance Moms for example — where they go to Sheer Nationals, and it’s just, I’ve always looked up to them. And so being able to go and having scholarships to go, I’m very proud of myself and I’m excited to go. It’s a big accomplishment,” Bricker said.

“She was over the moon about winning the Thunderstruck title. And I think that she was surprised, but it was really something special because they broadcast these awards nationally. So to have her face broadcasted nationally was really, really cool. And especially, like, we could not ask for a better representative of our studio,” Lickfold said

For the main feature of the event, the title competition, the Sheer Elite company website says dancers enter their highest scoring solo from one of Sheer Elite’s 2020-21 tour cities. A soloist may enter as many solo competition entries, all in different dance styles, as desired at a regional event.

Sheer Elite Nationals includes four days of rehearsing with choreographers performing the opening number at the Awards Banquet. The website says Mr. Sheer and Ms. Sheer winners will be crowned and awarded, representing Sheer Elite for the 2021-22 tour.

People can learn more about the title competition at https://www.sheereliteinternational.com/title.html .