Get your dance fix with Star Catchers shows

If dance contests are your thing and you're experiencing "So You Think You Can Dance?" withdrawals, the Winchester Star Catchers group may provide a temporary fix.

The dance club, featuring performers age 8 to 18, will present four shows this month. The shows will be styled after the popular television program in which dancers are challenged to choreograph and perform styles they may not know, says organizer and dance instructor Tiffannie Bond. Three judges will give feedback while the audience members get to vote on the winners.

As many as 35 dancers are expected to compete in categories they drew out of a hat including Broadway, disco, contemporary/modern, '90s hip hop, jazz and pop. Dancers also will be paired with partners they were assigned through the same method, Bond says. The idea is to challenge them and teach them to work with people, she adds.

Julie Navis, 17, joined the Star Catchers when she was 12.

"I just noticed that I could pick up choreography easily and it was a way to express myself," Navis says of how she got into dancing. "I get to express the way I feel about the dance and it kind of brings me out of my shell."

A hip-hop dancer, Navis and her partner have to choreograph a Broadway dance, something she's not familiar with. They studied YouTube videos to get an idea, she says.

The first show will be at 7 p.m. Saturday at Winchester Community Center, 3130 S. McLeod Drive. A show is scheduled for 9 a.m. Dec. 14 at the Galleria at Sunset mall, 1300 W. Sunset Road, Henderson, and at 4 and 4:30 p.m. Dec. 22.

By SONYA PADGETT