Dancers take the floor for fierce competition

CINCINNATI - The halls of Xavier University’s Cintas Center were filled with the sound of “1-2-3-4,” and toes tapping, fixing last-minute steps, all while they dodged lots and lots of hairspray, which was flying every which way.

They teased and sprayed and painted to get just the right look to match their choreography and music’s theme. After all, without the look, their dance is just a dance -- not a performance.

They spent hundreds of hours in rehearsal prepping for the Live! Cincinnati, a cheer and dance competition at the Cintas Center.

And Sunday afternoon, they spent hours primping just before they took the stage.

Savannah Forest, 8, nodded her head when asked if she was nervous prior to her performance. She was one of 11 girls dancing for Ultimate Cheer of Cincinnati from Fairfield, Ohio.

Her team’s look? Wild.

"We're trying to be animals," she said as her mom vigorously teased her hair to about six inches high and wide.

"We do hip hop dance and the theme is animals, so we have the raccoon eyes with crazy hair," said Renee Forest, Savannah’s mom, who slid her daughter's fur vest over her black shirt.

"We give ourselves a good hour, hour and a half to get them ready," said Brandy Grant, another dance mom from Fairfield, as she painted thick, sparkly, black circles around her daughter’s eyes.

"It is literally a performance, so going out there with this hair and eye makeup, along with the music, makes the show. Without it wouldn’t be the same," Renee said.

"I thinkl it gets them in character and ready to go. Definitey plays a huge part in it," agreed Brandy.

Just down the hall, the senior division's Pride Athletics of Lebanon, Ohio, was going platinum for their dance.

"This is the fifth person," said Amanda Spears, a coach with Pride Athletics, who spent the afternoon painting dancers’ faces metallic silver.

"We're like robots or transformers... we're being controlled by a computer,” said Lia Dunn, a 14-year-old Pride Athletics dancer, while a friend applied shiny makeup to her face.

"It plays a major part. Without the silver it just wouldn't be the same concept--wouldn't put on quite the experience or the show that we're looking for," said Spears, holding a dancer's hand as she painted silver over her nails, her palm and each crevice of her fingers.

Live! Cincinnati featured more than 150 cheer and dance teams from Indiana, Kentucky, West Virginia and Ohio. That's about 2,500 athletes taking the floor over the weekend.

They took to the floor one team at a time, showcasing their biggest and best, most polished moves for the judges.

Many Tri-State teams hit their mark Saturday and Sunday, like Hamilton High School and Star Performance Centre of Liberty Township.

The music was loud and pounding, their feet never missing a beat. Their faces were excited and energetic with each fluid and in-sync movement of their hands, pom poms and feet. And of course their hair and makeup was flawless.

For Hamilton High, the music stopped abruptly and they fell to the mat in unison for an effect that closed out their performance with a standing ovation.

Lebanon's Pride Athletics team won their division with their "robot" dance -- and Ultimate Cheer of Cincinnati placed first in youth hip-hop with their "wild" performance.

To see how all of the team’s scored, click here or go to www.jamlive.com/Results.php .