Washington County youth take the spotlight

WASHINGTON - Tap dancing, clog solos, singing, skits - the youth of Washington County brought it all to the stage on Saturday evening for the In the Spotlight Talent Show held at the Washington Area Performing Arts & Events Center (WAPAEC).

Melissa Westphal, a board member of the WAPAEC and organizer of the show, said In the Spotlight began three years ago as both a fundraiser for the auditorium and space and as another opportunity for kids across the county to get experience on a stage.

'We just came up with this idea to do as something for the whole community, for all ages and to raise some funds for the facility,” Westphal said, 'I think that anytime you can put kids on stage, it helps to build their self-confidence. And we're trying to create the next generation of successful adults, and kids getting on a stage become our future.”

This year, 20 acts performed for three judges, who determined the top three performances as well as gave awards for categories in entertainment and costume, and selected three judges' choice. A people's choice was also decided by audience members.

Guest judges included Rich Bentler, the entertainment manager for Riverside Casino & Golf Resort, Linda Soukup, a retired elementary music teacher from Stewart Elementary and Emma Stout, an alumna of the Washington Community School District who went on to dance for the Mount Mercy University Mustang Dance Team.

'The fun part of judging is just seeing all the talent in our community,” Stout said.

'That and seeing the smiles, it's good for the culture,” Bentler added.

For 15-year-old Abby Renoux, who performed a contemporary-lyrical dance solo titled 'Hold On,” the show was a good test-run for the upcoming competition season. Renoux's dance ended up taking third place overall in the competition.

'I have this dance and competition season is almost starting so I wanted a chance to perform and make sure everything will go well,” she said.

Saturday evening was Renoux's first time performing for In the Spotlight. The high schooler was caught off guard on stage when her name was announced.

'I wasn't expecting it, I was just sort of standing there on the stage not expecting my name to be called. And it just kind of makes all the work seem to pay off and it makes me feel really good. The feeling I get every time I perform is why I dance, I just love it,” she said.

Fellow dancer Layla Hesser's passion for the sport also shined through in her clog solo, winning the 11-year-old from Washington second place in the competition and earned her the people's choice award. Hesser said dance is a lifelong passion of hers that she has been doing since she was 3.

'I really like dancing, it's one of my passions and clog is one of my favorite types of dance … it's one of my favorite things to do,” she said.

Taking first place at the competition were Mid Prairie high schoolers Emily Marner and Kyra Helmuth.

The two ladies had the crowd in stitches as they performed their scene from [title of show], a one-act musical featuring both dialogue and a singing portion. Marner and Helmuth played disgruntled actors vying for main roles on Broadway, but who had instead been delegated to act as secondary characters.

'The musical that it's from is a musical about writing a musical,” Helmuth explained.

Neither Marner nor Helmuth went into the competition expecting to place. The Mid-Prairie speech team actually joined on a whim after a suggestion from their speech coach and had began preparing to perform several months back.

'Winning was completely unexpected. We kind of came into it for fun, for practice,” Marner said.

'This is for speech and we're going to state next Saturday,” Helmuth added.

Other winners of the night included entertainment category winner 17-year-old John Flannery, who performed a comedy song 'Lower Your Expectations,” and Jordyn Kinzenbaw's jazz solo 'Whodunit,” which won for the costume category. The judges' choice selections included acrobatic and jazz solo 'Feelin' Good” performed by Makenyn Liska, acting skit 'Tourist Attraction” featuring Terra Richardson and Levi Stultz and lyrical duet 'Spring Day” sung by Mikaila Matheson and Makynna Morgan.