Award-winning dancer and South Whidbey resident Melyssa Smith recently closed out her dance season with an explosion in creativity and success. Competing in the Spotlight Nationals in July at Seaside, Ore., Smith won three of her self-choreographed solos to earn the Nationals Triple Crown, which is the average of three highest scoring solos from each studio. Two of the solos won first place in the Nationals Open and Lyrical Categories. Smith won another first place for the Nationals Interpretive competition, which is an improvised dance performed after listening to the music one time just 10 minutes before dancing.

Smith qualified for the competition after winning the “Miss Spotlight” title in March at the Spotlight Regionals in Burien. She also qualified for the Velocity Anaheim Nationals in April as a Maximum Velocity Artist, where she placed in the top 15 out of 90 from across the country. She took first in the finals competition for her open category solo, “I Can’t Help Falling in Love.”