HOME TALENT: Pageant brings choreographer back

Published 10:31 am Thursday, June 4, 2015

Taylor Thomas Hosemann, center, watches as the 2015 Miss Mississippi’s Outstanding Teen dancers rehearse for the pageant.

Taylor Thomas Hosemann, center, watches as the 2015 Miss Mississippi’s Outstanding Teen dancers rehearse for the pageant.

While the Miss Mississippi Outstanding Teen contestants enjoy the limelight of the stage, Taylor Thomas Hosemann watches and encourages them. After months of work, she has prepared them for their big day.

Hosemann, a Vicksburg native who lives in New Orleans, uses her dance experience while serving as choreographer for the pageant.

“I grew up dancing all my life,” she said. “I danced at Debra Franco School of Dance.”

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Hosemann also participated in dance competitions before joining the pageant scene.

“Obviously I grew up knowing the pageant because I lived here,” she said. “So I volunteered and helped out in the summer time, and I danced in the pageant my senior year of high school.”

When Hosemann went to college she started teaching dance.

“I never really thought I would like teaching, but I did,” she said. “So I kept teaching.”

Four years ago Jaynie Fedell approached Hosemann about being the assistant choreographer.

“She knew me from growing up in Vicksburg and knew that I danced,” she said.

Hosemann minored in theater at the University of Mississippi where she was in musicals and other productions.

“They don’t have a dance program at Ole Miss, but they have theater,” she said. “I knew I wanted to do something.”

Hosemann served as assistant choreographer for two years before stepping up to choreographer last year. Her assistant choreographer is Marnecia Wilson.

“I do everything from the princesses to the dancers and the contestants,” she said, meaning Hosemann choreographs dances for girls ages 5–18 years of age.

It’s fun though, Hosemann said.

“I love doing this show because it’s not just choreography,” she said. “That’s my title, but it’s not just choreography. You have the choreography, but you also have the vocalists and stage them, and you have to do the lighting and help make it all look good on stage.”

Hosemann said that’s what’s fun about the show is putting it all together.

“These guys, they’re young, but they’re professionals,” she said. “We learned some of this stuff at orientation in February, and I send them home, and they come back ready to go.”

Hosemann said even the youngest girls, the princesses, are easy to work with for the most part.

“They have tons of fun,” she said. “They get here with their contestants, and they just love being with them.”

Hosemann said performing in the pageant is a great experience for the dancers as well.

“They’re all in high school, so it’s a great experience for them to have the opportunity to be in this show,” she said. “It’s different than just dancing in a recital. It’s an actual show.”

Even though there isn’t a storyline with the pageant, it’s still an entertaining show, Hosemann said.

“We always have our theme, and we try really hard to make it feel like a story throughout the show,” she said. “It’s about the girls competing and who’s going to win, but we try to make it an entertaining show so it’s not just competition, competition, competition. It makes it more fun for them.”

Autograph signings were scheduled from 9:30 to 11 a.m. Thursday at the Outlets at Vicksburg and from 10 to 11:30 a.m. Friday along downtown Washington Street.

Preliminary competitions are scheduled for Thursday and Friday night at the Vicksburg Auditorium, 901 Monroe St., and the final night of competition and crowning will be held Saturday.

All competitions will begin at 8 p.m. and tickets are $25 for the preliminary competitions and $40 for the final night.

Student tickets and seating will be available at the door, only and the cost is $15 for the Thursday and Friday competitions and $20 for Saturday. ID is required.

For tickets and more information, call 601-638-6746.