EXCELSIOR SPRINGS – The Tigerettes, Excelsior Springs High School’s dance team, are state champions. The Tigerettes competed in the Missouri State Dance Team Championship, performing an energetic hip-hop routine. Samantha Barrett, a Tigerette alum and director of Dance Theater Workshop, choreographed the routine. In November, the girls began learning and rehearsing the routine, providing them ample time to perfect it. “The ladies put in a lot of time and hard work over these last few months,” coach Marie Mawby said. Because of COVID-19 restrictions, the competition was held virtually, with the ladies recording their routine in the high school gym. It was then sent to be judged. The Tigerettes were among 13 Division Two dance teams that presented routines. On Feb. 27, the ladies gathered at the Excelsior Springs Community Center when the results were announced live. As the teams were announced in ascending order, the ladies began looking at one another, realizing as each team was…