Dance State Championship news and notes

A few things to know about today's Vermont dance state championship at Vergennes High School.

This is the seventh year dance has been an organized athletic endeavor in Vermont.

The first year, the sport was a demonstration sport. In 2007, the first state championship was awarded to Springfield.

South Burlington goes through it's practice routine / Shawn Corrow, coldhollowphoto.com

Other past champs are South Burlington (2008), Burr and Burton (2009 and 2011) and Colchester (2010).

There are three genres of dance championships awarded: Pom, Jazz and Hip Hop.

Teams can compete in two genres. The team with the highest combined score for both dances wins the state title.

There are five judges for each dance. The top and bottom scores are thrown out. The maximum score for each judge is 100. The combined scored of the remaining three judges is combined for a total score of a maximum of 300. According to event chair Sean Farrell, South Burlington has posted the high score in the regular season, scoring nearly 280 points.

Eleven schools are competing - Arlington, BFA-St. Albans, Burr and Burton, Colchester, Lamoille, Middlebury, MVU, Mount Anthony, Mount Mansfield, South Burlington and Springfield.

The largest team is MMU with 21 dancers listed on its roster; MVU has just 5.

South Burlington goes through it's practice routine / Shawn Corrow, coldhollowphoto.com

Here's the scoring matrix:

Teams could score as many as 100 points based on five categories: Communication and projection (10 possible points); choreography (40 possible points, 10 each for appropriateness to genre, difficulty and creativity; five points each for formations/transitions and the way the dance compliments the music; group execution (25 possible points, 10 each for synchronization, timing with the music and five points for spacing; dance technique (20 possible points, 10 each for rhythm and body control/placement; five points for image of a high school dance team in regards to appropriateness of music, lyrics, movement and apparel.