Local dancers audition for national show

Three local tap dancers are in suspense as they await word on whether they’ll get to perform in Washington, D.C., later this year.

Marlow Schulz, Perrey Sobba and Bridget Unterreiner — all students at Feat x Feet, Montana’s only youth tap ensemble — were invited to audition to perform Dec. 7 at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. The show will be the first full-length American tap show ever performed at the Kennedy Center, said the girls’ teacher, Ashley Wold.

The invitation to audition came at Chicago Human Rhythm Project. The nation’s best tap instructors teach tap students and instructors from across the country in the week-long workshop, which took place in late July and early August.

The Montana Dance Arts Association awarded scholarships to Schulz, Sobba and Unterreiner to attend the workshop after a statewide audition. Schulz, a junior at Whitefish High School, received $1,000; Sobba, a senior at Whitefish High, won $500; and Unterreiner, a Glacier High School senior, received a $750 scholarship. Wold was awarded money as well; she was the lone Montana teacher given a $1,000 fellowship to further her own tap education.

In addition to the three who won scholarships, 12 other students from the Feat x Feet Youth Tap Ensemble attended the Chicago conference, Wold said.

The ensemble is one of about 12 youth tap ensembles in the entire country, she added. Students ages 4 and up are welcome to take classes at Feat x Feet — Wold offers classes in Whitefish and Kalispell — but the ensemble is an elite group formed through an audition process.

Schultz, Sobba and Unterreiner joined an even more elite group just by being asked to audition, Wold said. Those invited to try out were the top dancers in Chicago.

“It’s quite an honor,” she said.

The girls will know by the end of August whether they have been chosen to perform, she added.

For more information about Feat x Feet, visit www.featbyfeet.com.