The Tennessee State Cinderella Pageant was held between June 10 and June 14, 2003 in Pigeon Forge, TN, and Krystal was there with a whole new look! After capturing the 3rd Alternate Title at the Cameo Girl State Pageant the night before, she decided to go into the Cinderella preliminaries with a new gown, new hairstyle and a new attitude. The preliminary competitions included Casual wear and a brief introductory speech, up-close interviews with three separate judges, Talent and modeling Formal wear. These competitions were laced with themed parties, such as the Western luncheon, the 50s party and especially for Cinderella, the Prince Gilber party with a green frog theme. Obviously, the purpose of these functions is to ease the competitiveness of a state pageant and to create friendships that last beyond distribution of the final trophy. Some of the ladies competing in the Teen Division were people Krystal met at last years competition, like Chelsea Spiceland of Dover, TN and Breanna Garrison of ,TN. But most of the girls were new to the Cinderella system.
For the interview Krystal wore a blue dress and suit jacket. During this portion of competition, each teen contestant sits and talks with one judge for 3-5 minutes, then rotates to the next judge and then the final judge before exiting the private room. The questions range from What do you think of violence in the schools? to Other than your mother, who has influenced you most? This is your opportunity as a contestant to let the judges know who you are and what you think. At last years Cinderella Pageant, Krystal got the highest scores in the interview portion. She really felt like she connected with the judges this year as well.
The second day of competition included modeling of casual wear and the speech. For this portion Krystal wore a white boat neck tee, white flare legged pants, a white fringed scarf tied at the waist and white stacked sandals. And as a display of confidence, she wore a chunky silver bangle! In her speech she briefly shared about her new love of signing for the hearing impaired and cheerleading.
For the talent portion, she performed a 2minute 30second excerpt of Reflection, sung by Christina Aguillara, from the Disney movie Mulan. This lyrical interpretation was originally choreographed by Josh Corey, her dance teacher, for a recital dance to Whitney Houstons I Have Nothing. But in a creative pinch, Krystal re-fitted the dance to work for Reflection and added a little bit of herself as well, including a double aerial, side leaps and a triple fuerte turn. Unfortunately, she found the stage too small and too slippery to perform the double aerial, and was once again forced to rearrange the dance.
The final competition was in formal wear. For this, Krystal wore an elegant Oleg Cassini bridal ball gown lightly accented with sequins and rhinestones; a true princess flowing down the runway with grace, beauty and style. Not a hair was out of place, and her make-up was flawless.
Saturday afternoon the announcement of the top 5 was made and Krystals name was the second name called in the Teen division. This news sent five teenagers and five moms backstage for the quick changes and preparation to recompete in the finals. For this competition, the girls once again, modeled their sportswear and gave their brief introductory speech, performed their talent, and finally modeled their evening wear as the Master of Ceremonies sung to them.
As the drum roll sounded, Krystal was the first name called by the judges as 4th Alternate to the Cinderella Teen title. With grace and poise (and of course, tremendous disappointment), Krystal accepted her trophy and thanked her judges. Her time with Cinderella now ended, and a whole new look polished for the stage, all of her focus is now on capturing the Black Teen USA title in August!
