Tavernier’s On Your Toes dance studio brought its talent to the national level at the 2024 NRG Dance Project competition in Orlando, capping off a successful dance season.
In a competition that lasted from June 29 to July 4, local dancers from OYT’s elite team, going against some of the biggest dance studios in the state and country, received national recognition, including Brookelyn Zlockie, who won NRG National Prodigy.
Within the junior division, Abbigail Stevens received first place in the lyrical category, and Camryn Keller had the highest score in the jazz category. Sisters Brookelyn and Isla Zlockie won for best overall high school duet or trio with their “The Flowers” routine, with Isla qualifying as a National Prodigy finalist and receiving a $500 scholarship to the CLI conservatory dance program. The elite team won for the second-highest jazz score, third overall small group, and the judge’s choice jazz award for their performance “Justice for ArtPop.”
The team’s wins were the culmination of more than 10 months of hard work and practice since they received their choreography in August. The elite team, consisting of dancers ages 10 to 17, won a judge’s favorite award at January’s regional competition in Chicago, which qualified them for Orlando’s national competition. In Orlando, they performed alongside more than 50 studios from around the country.
Instructor Stephanie Zlockie said she’s proud of her team’s national representation, something that is unusual for a comparatively small studio.
“We’re not a very big studio compared to who we compete with. Our studio had one group routine versus others that had maybe 40 group routines,” she said.
“The fact that we had one duet and it took the top score, two finalists and a winner for prodigies … it’s pretty amazing to think about the pool of talent that we have here, coming from a small town,” said Zlockie. “We are extremely proud of how hard the dancers work, and they’re seeing the results of their work, and that’s always rewarding.”
