HIGHLAND SENIOR SELECTED FOR FINALS AT SPOTLIGHT SHOW YOUTH IS FIRST TAP DANCER TO COMPETE IN CATEGORY.

Byline: John Sanders  Staff Writer

PALMDALE - Highland High School senior Jeffery Williams was voted ``Most Likely To Succeed'' by his senior class.

Could it be because he played a small part on the ``Gregory Hines Show''? Or it could have been that he was selected as a finalist for the 12th Annual Spotlight Awards Competition?

Regardless, Williams, 17, has high expectations for his life.

``You can always do something. Don't ever say that you can't,'' Williams said. ``I want to complete college, become financially stable and successful.''

Williams, a tap dancer for 11 years, will compete in the Spotlight Awards Competition on Monday, April 17, at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion for a chance at $5,000.

Six categories make up the Spotlight Awards: ballet, jazz/modern dance, classical voice, nonclassical voice, classical instrumental music and jazz instrumental music. Williams is a finalist in the jazz/modern dance category.

Williams is the first tap dancer ever selected as a finalist.

Thirty-one high school students were chosen as semifinalists from Los Angeles County, 20 from Orange County, nine from Riverside County, four from Ventura County, two from San Diego County and one from San Bernardino County. Two finalists were chosen from each category. The semifinals were held in early December, Williams said.

``I'm very excited because it's like a breakthrough for the tappers,'' Williams said. ``The barrier is broken and this will open the doors for other tappers to audition. And now they might open a tap category.''

But it hasn't been easy for Williams. He has had to practice long and hard to get where e is.

Williams' mother owns a dance center called ``Dance Connection Academy'' in Los Angeles. Williams said that he practices 4 1/2 hours a day, four days a week. He also studied in New York with a school taught by the star of the Broadway show ``Bring in Da Noise, Bring in Da Funk'' in the summer of 1998.

``I enjoy it every year - every moment of it,'' he said.

Williams said that following high school he wants to go to Morehouse College in Georgia so he can ``do a lot of soul searching to find out who I really am.''

Williams wants to pursue a career in acting and entertainment like Hines and the late Sammy Davis Jr.

However, he said if his show business career doesn't work out then he wants to be a school teacher. He teaches tap dancing at his mother's studio twice a week.

``That's one of the reasons I want to teach, because it's so rewarding to see kids learning from me and then I can see progress and progress and more progress,'' he said. ``And I figure this is just tap; what can I do with their education? I think they can excel much higher.''

CAPTION(S):

photo

Photo: (color) Jeffery Williams, 17, is a jazz tap dancer and a finalist in the 12th Annual Spotlight Awards Competition on April 17.

Jeff Goldwater/Staff Photographer