The Grant Gendrills team participated in a dance competition at Rex Putnam High School this past Saturday, December 10. The competition brought 17 dance teams together from across the Willamette Valley.

The event at Putnam was a category competition, with each team creating and performing a dance routine based on themes like Modern, Hip-Hop and Pom, a dance style based around the use of pom-poms. At Putnam, the Gendrills competed in the Jazz and Contemporary categories, placing sixth in Jazz and fifth in Contemporary.

The mood at Putnam was spirited. Bleachers were packed with siblings, parents and friends. The large gym where teams performed was filled with the sounds of cheering and applause. In between performances, teams, who sat on a separate set of bleachers across the gym from the fans, clapped rhythmically or led the crowd in waves.

In addition to the category competition, the Gendrills participated in an event known as the “Drill Down”, where individuals from each team competed on their own instead of as a team. 

The “Drill Down”  was military themed. The dancers stood at attention, in military formation, as they were given various commands like “Parade rest” and “Hand salute.” Dancers who failed to properly execute a command were eliminated. This continued until twelve people were left standing.

Hazel Cross, a member of the Gendrills, was one of twelve finishers in the advanced Drill Down. “It was really cool that I won, especially because it was optional this year for us, just for this competition, because we hadn’t been practicing drill before then… it was really exciting,” she says.

The Grant Gendrills, founded in the 1960s, was one of the first show dance teams in Oregon. The team consistently performs well, placing 5th in Oregon at the end of the 2021-2022 season. At their first competition of this season, the Gendrills placed second in the Contemporary category, and third in the Jazz category. The competition at Putnam was their second of the 2022‒2023 season. Their next competition is Saturday, February 4th at Canby High School.