Four local dancers were honored recently during a national competition held in Morehead City.

Jamie Gaynor, Hope Stallings, Tribecca Moore and Samantha Sawyer represented Washington’s Le Moulin Rouge de Danse at the event, which featured over 250 dancers from 26 different studios, according to Shannon Reising, who owns the local studio.

“It was a lot of fun,” Stallings said of the competition. “It was a really cool new experience.”

Reising co-founded and coaches the troupe with Tara Shumaker-Nojima. This was its first year as a competition troupe.

In Morehead City, the girls performed as a troupe with their “Kissing You” contemporary piece and their “Too Darn Hot” musical theater piece. All four of Washington’s representatives were also chosen to take part in the competition’s “Showcase” performance.

Along with competing as a troupe, three of them danced in the solo round. Gaynor, Moore and Stallings brought home platinum awards and Moore took second place overall in the adult category. As a troupe, the Le Moulin Rouge de Danse girls placed second overall in the senior category, according to Reising.

“Winning is something, but it is not everything,” Reising said. “The competition was so overwhelming. The whole point of going was to let the girls experience competing at nationals.”

The studio has devoted an entire shelf to the awards won by the troupe in its first year, but the dancers said they came home with more than trophies.

“It was such an awesome experience,” said Jamie Gaynor, who added that she hopes to continue dancing while attending Meredith College as a freshman.

Fellow dancer Samantha Sawyer agreed.

“I thought it was a lot of fun,” she said. “It was a great experience, especially growing closer in friendship with the other girls.”

Gaynor and Moore, recent high school graduates, have aged out of the troupe but the studio has plans in place to continue the opportunity. Already, other dancers have inquired about joining the troupe, which begins its new season of rehearsals in late August.

“We don’t audition for this troupe,” Reising said. “We feel like anyone in sixth grade and up who wants to compete should be able to. I think anyone who wants to be on that stage should have that opportunity.”