The Royals took their “Silver Screens” inspired routines to Fort Worth and danced away with national championships.

At the Marching Auxiliaries National Dance Contest April 8-9, the team won 11 awards, including three group routines winning their category and the team earning the Winners Circle award.

“We’ve been working toward it all year,” senior captain Jordyn LaFevers said. “And seeing it come together at nationals was rewarding to see how it went.”

The Royals previously traveled to the competition in 2014 and fell short of the National Champion title.

“I think we were more prepared because we had gone before so we knew what we were getting into,” assistant director Jennifer Bussear said. “And it was sweet sweet redemption for jazz and hip hop this year.”

The team jazz, hip hop and production received a National Champion title, beating out the nine teams in their division. The team production dance was inspired by the Pirates of the Caribbean films and had many elements to bring it all together, making it a favorite for some to watch.

“My favorite to watch was actually production, coming to fruition and it happening,” Bussear said. “And the response from people about it was really cool. I think a really cool memory was McKee and me applying dirt to everybody. We had to individually apply dirt to every single girl, like head to toe. It was hilarious.”

For some girls, memories were made on stage, but for sophomore Brooke Templeton some of her most memorable moments were made during down time.

“My favorite memory from the trip would probably have to be the in between times when we weren’t performing necessarily, but getting ready in the hotels,” Templeton said. “We had some story time kind of stuff going, and overall just extra stuff. Obviously the dances were fun but the outside part of the dancing was really fun.”

Templeton was a part of the sophomore ensemble inspired by Friday Night Lights that also won National Champion.

“I feel like it was a successful trip for us,” Templeton said. “I felt great because we’re the babies of the team and we were kind of be able to prove ourselves by saying that we were good enough to be able to win national champion. It was a good thing for us because it kind of boosted our pride a little bit on the team, knowing that we were successfully helping our team.”

Although it was the last competition for the seniors, they were able to come back one last time, and they walked away as the National Champions.

“I went my sophomore year so it was completely different because sophomore year we were the babies and we were nervous and we didn’t really know what to do,” LaFevers said. “And so it was nice coming back as a senior, having that leadership position and getting to be there for the team and show them the ropes kind of. And it was bittersweet to go back there for my last year. I’m incredibly proud of them, just seeing the work we did all year and how everything we’ve done had led up to that moment and it was very, I don’t even know how to explain that feeling, but it’s just so touching to see what we did and seeing how happy they are about how we did.”

Marching Auxiliaries was the last contest of the year for the team, wrapping up their competition season. The team will perform April 28-30 at their spring show entitled “Silver Screens.”

Awards
National Champion Team Jazz
National Champion Team Production
Co-National Champion Hip Hop
2nd place Team Contemporary
National Champion Senior Ensemble
National Champion Sophomore Ensemble
2nd place Junior Ensemble
National Champion Officer Jazz
National Champion Officer Open
5th place Solo – Emma Steiner
Winners Circle