Three students at Spanish Fort High School helped lead the Center for Performing Arts to a near sweep of the major awards at the V.I.P. Dance Competition Saturday at the Mobile Civic Center Theater.

Tara Sellers, Julie and Emily Smith of Spanish Fort — along with the performance company from The Center performed 27 dance routines and scored 13 platinum awards and 14 high gold awards.

The team’s instructor and choreographer, Glen Jenkins, was pleased with the team’s performances Saturday, however; he said he realizes there is still work to be done. “Platinums are great but we had some flaws in our other dances. We will go back to work this week and work on perfecting the rest of our performances. The judges at competitions are all professional dancers and choreographers."

“They catch the smallest details,” he added. “If you want to score platinum and be the best, you have to practice.”

Julie Smith, a senior at Spanish Fort High School, agreed with Jenkins. “We work on our dances every week. It is like any other sport, you have to practice to be able to perform.”

Smith’s sister, Emily, believes the team’s success is about commitment. “Finding time for a social life is tough. Between dance and school we don’t have much time for anything else.”

That commitment to dance forced Emily and Julie to choose between two of their favorite activities. Both of the girls were members of the Spanish Fort Toros Cheerleading Squad last year, but decided not to return and instead focus on dance. “It was a difficult decision to leave cheerleading,” according to Julie Smith. “Some days we would leave one practice and go straight to the other.”

Sellers, who also opted not to return to the cheerleading squad this year, realized the demand placed upon her. “I decided to concentrate on dancing this year. I have been dancing half my life and I want to be the best I can be. I realized I needed to concentrate on one activity and my first love is dance.”

Jenkins applauded the trio. “I have noticed a lot of growth in all three of the girls since they decided to make the commitment to the dance team. The entire team really performed great Saturday. Anytime you score a platinum award, it is evidence of a lot of hard work.”

The Center’s production dance, “Tame,” was the overall teen senior line choice and received the competition's Entertainment Award.

The team also placed first and third overall in the senior small group category. Another of the Center’s performances was third overall in the teen large group competition.

“We did not sweep the competition, Jenkins added, but we established The Center is one of the elite dance studios on the Gulf Coast.”

The Center for Performing Arts will compete again in May at the Kids Artistic Review in Biloxi.

The Center for Performing Arts is located on Stanton Road in Daphne.