DANCE TEAM TO OPEN FOR BIG ACTS IN BRANSON
Rhythm Elite team to open for three big acts in Branson
Moving their feet furiously fast, dancing as if everyone’s lives depend on it and beaming broad smiles the whole way through—that’s the local Rhythm Elite dance team from Texarkana.
The dance crew from All Rhythm Dance Alley in Nash, Texas, will soon take their dedication and foot-stomping dance groove to none other than Branson, Mo., to open for three of the biggest acts at the resort town. They’ll open for Shoji Tabuchi, the Japaneseborn country fiddler with one of the most popular shows in town, and both The Haygoods and Spirit of the Dance shows.
To get a sense of how dedicated Angie Walker’s team of dancers are, sit in on a studio rehearsal of their non-stop, 20-minute clogging routine. If you do, be ready for something loud. Clogging up close is quite a breathtaking spectacle.
Dancing each song number from the Rhythm Elite’s overall routine would leave the average person breathless, but these dancers, age 10 to 19, have the skills and conditioning to make it through, smiles included. And they’ll be taking this show on the road to Branson for Memorial Day weekend to perform as openers for Shoji and more.
For Walker’s Rhythm Elite team, this Branson trip presents a special opportunity.
At All Rhythm Dance Alley, Walker has her normal group of students. Then the Rhythm Elite team is a group of competitive and showcase dancers.
The chance to perform in Branson has roots in the Texas Cloggers Showcase, where the team performed annually in San Antonio at the River Walk. It was a forerunner of success to come. “We became core members and got to start performing,” Walker said.
They had 15 minutes to dance, they were told. Walker thought that meant a non-stop routine, but other teams would perform for three minutes, rest, then perform more. Her team became known for its non-stop action, said Walker, who’s danced for 38 years and had her studio for 18.
That showcase opportunity came to an end, so Walker looked for something new for her girls to do with the big routine. “We compete throughout the season and then I have something big for them at the end of the year,” she said. Growing up, Walker’s dream was not to have her own studio. She had a different idea in mind, one she never reached. “My dream was to dance in Branson, I wanted to clog in Branson,” she recalled. Her family vacationed there when she was a youngster. Seeing cloggers dance on stage stirred her hopes. “To me, they were famous. I wanted to be them, I wanted to be on that stage in Branson, and I never got that opportunity,” Walker said.
Though she didn’t get the opportunity, she thought maybe her girls could. So she talked with a tourism group at Branson and discovered they invited schools to be opening acts prior to a show.
“It’s like a pre-show,” Walker said. All types of shows include these opening acts to entertain the guests as they come in to the theater.
This is going to be Rhythm Elite’s third year to participate, but now they’ve hit the big time. Each year they open for different shows. “There is a specific show, Shoji Tobuchi’s, who has never had an opening act, ever,” Walker said. Now they’ll get to open for Shoji.
Angie’s organized with her girls. They carry themselves like pros. They sport Branson showcase jackets, backpacks and magnets. “It’s a showcase team. It’s not a little dance studio doing a performance there,” Walker says about their attitude. They work hard to prepare. She runs them through their paces to get the job done.
“If they’re going to represent, they’re going to represent well,” Walker said. “They appreciate it and it’s a great experience for them.”
It’s a teamwork effort, everyone doing their part and learning. She wants to teach life lessons and prepare her dancers for the world outside a dance studio.
The toughest part of preparing is the mental part, she says. About once a month they’ll just sit down and have a talk about life, about growing up and things her students deal with in their lives—“how this relates,” as she put it.
“We just really get into deep conversations about accepting people that aren’t always accepted and trying to befriend people that may be less fortunate than you,” Walker said.
The education works both ways. “As much as I teach them about dance, they teach me about life,” Walker says.
The routine they’ll perform combines a variety of songs. As choreographer, she tries to mix recognizable hits from the past and present, ditties such as “Walk This Way,” “At the Hop” and “The Devil Went Down to Georgia.” She’ll end the routine with a gospel or patriotic number.
“All of our differences kind of come together at dance. It’s taught me to be more confident in myself and that, you know, being a little bit different is OK because here
different is what works.” —Kristina
Grider
And clogging? It resides somewhere between tap and Irish dance. “High knees, lots of energy. It can be done to any style of music,” Walker said. Anyone can do it, too—any size, anyone, she says. That’s why she likes it.
Dancers like 13-year-old Kiana Smith and 19-year-old Kristina Grider are working hard to be ready for Branson.
For Kristina, it’s her ninth year on the elite team and thirteenth year of dance. “I guess when I started I never thought I would be where I am today. I didn’t expect it to be such a lifestyle change. It was just something for fun. Now this is pretty much my life. This is what I do,” she said.
Now she sees the big picture.
“All of our differences kind of come together at dance,” Grider says. At school, cliques form. Not here at dance. Everyone’s accepted. “It’s taught me to be more confident in myself and that, you know, being a little bit different is OK because here different is what works,” she said.
Kiana got involved because she had a cousin who danced at All Rhythm. She saw clogging at a recital and it immediately got her hooked. “It was fast, and I was like, can I do that? I wanted to do it so bad,” she said. It’s her seventh year of dance.
The clogging is her favorite part. The biggest challenge? “Learning more dances after dance after dance after dance,” Kiana said. They can learn as many as 15 dances in a season.
At the Branson Tourism Center, a Branson show ticket seller, the Rhythm Elite team made an indelible impression on Randi McCormick, group sales manager. She was instrumental in helping Rhythm Elite gain these performance spots in Branson, guiding them to get a package together for a Branson visit.
“They were by far one of the most talented performing groups I’d ever seen,” McCormick said. She remembers they were professional and respectful, and they participated in clinics.
Ultimately, the Rhythm Elite team landed a four-page spread in their Branson Update magazine, which reaches a national audience, the sales manager said.
“It’s because they were so talented and such a good group,” McCormick said.
To her, it was apparent that Walker cared for these girls. And, she noted, they received plenty of support from the parents, a large group of them coming along to see them dance.
“The choreography is great. She (Angie) just has such a great handle on their team. You can just see the respect level there, which is awesome,” McCormick said.
Walker stresses that dancing is not just about being competitive, going to Branson and things like that. It’s about more, too.
“It’s not just about you,” she said. “It’s about reaching out and how blessed we are to be able to do what we do.”