It is billed as a ‘Kiddie Camp’ but the annual Gallup High School Bengal Girls Summer Dance Camp has provided lots of experience and fun for girls, and a couple of boys, ranging in age from kindergarten to high school.
Coaches for the three-day camp, which began on June 13, are the ladies of the award-winning Gallup High Bengal Girls Dance Team, who do an absolutely great job handling all the energy brought to the gym floor by these youngsters. Kristy Tiley is the coach of the GHS team and has directed and choreographed her girls to a multitude of awards over the years past.
This year, there were 240 campers in attendance. Each of the age groups performed for parents on June 16, then participated in a drill-down competition. The Drill Down Princess (or Queen, if you like) for 2016 was Mia Carabajal, surrounded in one of the accompanying pictures by friends, and in another, displaying her crown and smile.
The question many have is what, exactly, goes on at these camps, and the answer is dancing, dancing, and more dancing. And when the final act is over, and the contests are done and awards given, these girls just crank up the music and dance some more. Parents and other relatives don’t seem to mind, as they wait patiently to gather up their young and make the trip home.
Story and photos
by Tom Hartsock
Sun Correspondent