Arizona Grand Resort will hold auditions for its high school dance team Arizona Grand Jam April 17 and 18.
The dance team will be part of Arizona Grand Resort's Island Nights summertime promotion, General Manager Paul Gray said, performing Friday and Saturday nights in the Oasis Water Park in front of up to 3,000 people.
Kimberly Lewis, owner of the Kimberly Lewis School of Dance in Ahwatukee Foothills, said the resort will select two rotating teams totaling 24 to 35 dancers.
"There's a need for high school dancers to have a performance opportunity," Lewis said. "It's going to look great on their resume. When you're on a professional dance team at a high school level, that's going to look really good."
Arizona Grand Jam will perform multiple dancing styles, sometimes depending on a theme night. Lewis' teachers at her school and others will choreograph routines for the students.
Lewis held free classes from March 3 to April 16 in preparation for the auditions; based on those classes, she said there could be anywhere from 75 to 300 participants, both male and female.
Judges at the auditions include Lewis, former choreographer for the Phoenix Suns dance team Carrie Mattheus, top 30 finalist for So You Think You Can Dance Talia Favia and University Dance Association head instructor Kelsey Tomlinson, among others.
Arizona Grand Jam is located at 8000 S. Arizona Grand Parkway. For more information, call them at (602) 438-9000.
Christopher Ogino is interning this semester for the Ahwatukee Foothills News. He is a senior at Arizona State University.
