
DATE: Sunday, April 20, 1997                TAG: 9704180290

SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER      PAGE: 13   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY ERIC FEBER, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   67 lines

SATURDAY'S MISS CHESAPEAKE PAGEANT TO HAVE MORE GLITZ

Next weekend's Miss Chesapeake Scholarship Pageant will be filled with talent.

Besides a showcase for some of Chesapeake's brightest and most talented young women, this year's Miss Chesapeake Pageant will be highlighted by entertainment from Miss Virginia 1996, Miss Chesapeake 1996 and the dance skills of professional dancer/dance teacher/ choreographer Susan Boyette.

Using the theme ``One Singular Sensation,'' the pageant will feature a slate of nine young women competing for the crown of Miss Chesapeake 1997.

All contestants will be judged on talent, interview and swimsuit/ physical fitness and evening gown competitions.

The winner of the pageant will travel to Roanoke in June for the 1997 Miss Virginia Scholarship Pageant, a preliminary to the Miss America contest in Atlantic City.

Michelle Kang, 22, Miss Virginia 1996, will appear at the pageant to assist in crowning the new Miss Chesapeake and to offer musical entertainment on the piano.

Kang is a 1996 graduate of the College of William and Mary and a resident of Fredericksburg.

Also on hand to offer some energetic entertainment will be Nita Booth, Miss Chesapeake 1996. The former Disney Channel Mousketeer is scheduled to sing.

The evening's hosts will be Gail Fuhrman, Miss Chesapeake 1978, and television news personality John Cash.

Finally, the pageant's opening dance production as well as production numbers for the swimsuit and evening gown competitions will be directed and choreographed by Boyette.

``This will be my second year working with the Miss Chesapeake Pageant,'' said Boyette who was just chosen to be director of the Virginia Beach Conservatory for the Arts Dance School. ``I'll be coordinating the entire program. It will be just like the big production numbers you see on the Miss America pageants. We have been rehearsing since September.''

Boyette said Sherril Overton, the pageant's production manager, asked her to add a little zip to last year's and this year's competition.

``She was familiar with my dancing and teaching,'' Boyette said. ``She wanted me to make the show more entertaining, more lively, like the Miss America productions. I was able to devise the choreography and pick the music, the dancers and the costumes.''

Also performing with Boyette will be The Miss Chesapeake Dancers. The hand-picked performers are Kendra Mills, Kelly Tellefsen, Lara Sheets, Tiffany Steinhagan and Rebecca Brosnan.

``We've been rehearsing a long time and are planning to present good entertainment for the audience while they're waiting for the pageant competitions and results,'' Boyette said. ``We'll keep the show moving.'' MEMO: A complete roster of the Miss Chesapeake Pageant, with thumbnail

bios and photos of each candidate, will appear in the Friday, April 25

Clipper. ILLUSTRATION: Photo

Michelle Kang, Miss Virginia 1996, will perform at the pageant.

Graphic

WANT TO GO?

What: The 1997 Miss Chesapeake Scholarship Pageant, a preliminary to

the Miss Virginia and Miss America pageants.

Where: Oscar Smith High School, off Great Bridge Boulevard.

When: 7:30 p.m., Saturday

Tickets: $8 and available at the door.