Dancing to Vegas
GHS dance team sets out on 'new venture'

Kayla Hinkley performs with the Gallup High School dance team during half time at the Bengal vs. Rio Grande Raven basketball game on Friday night. (Photo by John A. Bowersmith/Independent)

By Michael Peretti
Staff Sports Writer

GALLUP — The Gallup High School Dance team will hit the road once again for an out of state competition, but this time they will be traveling to a new location.

The Gallup girls, coached by Kristy Tiley, will head to Las Vegas, Nevada for the UDA Jackpot Dance Classic this weekend at the Cashman Center.

"This is a brand new venture," Tiley said. "The girls are very excited. They are really looking forward to it."

The Bengals Dance team has competed in past years in Florida, and area regular at the New Mexico dance competitions, but this will be the first time that they have competed in the Las Vegas competition.

Gallup will compete in two different categories, the jazz division and a new hip-hop division.

There are nine girls that will be representing the team, including Desiree Silva, Christina Diaz, Amber Garcia, Felicia Apodaca, Victoria Lovato, Kayla Hinkley, Bianca Ferrari, Michelle Duckett and Christy Luna. They will leave Gallup on Thursday, have a practice day on Friday and will compete on Saturday.

The girls are coming off a UDA competition in Los Lunas in December, in which they finished strong.

This time, there will be over 20 teams representing schools from all over the west, including teams from Arizona, Nevada, California, New Mexico, Utah and even teams from Washington.

The Gallup girls raised money to attend the competition by holding a kiddie dance camp, selling candles and holding a golf tournament earlier in the year.

"I would like to thank the community for all of their support and help in getting us to this event," Tiley said.

After the competition, the girls will next be in action on April 1 and 2 when they will be at the state competition at the Pit in Albuquerque.

Despite this being the first time at the Las Vegas competition, Tiley said that she is confident in the team's potential.

"They have been working real hard," she said. "The hip hop routine is hot."

Fans at this past Friday's Gallup boys basketball game got a little taste of the dance team, when they performed their routine during half-time of the Gallup-Rio Grande game.