Choreography Competition 2022
Wow... What a wonderful day we had at our 2022 Choreography Competition!
After a 2 year gap, we were very excited to welcome 70 competitors, aged from 4-17 years old, to perform onstage at Falkirk Town Hall in our Choreography Competition as part of the Tryst Festival. They showcased an entertaining variety of solos, duets and group dances in ballet, character, jazz, commercial, tap, musical theatre and acrobatics. All the dancers had choreographed their routines themselves with their own choice of music and costumes with a total of 88 routines! We had 23 dancers of all ages trying the competition for the first time, as well as 3 little stars in the demonstration section.
Little Stars section and Elite Team performance
A wonderful highlight of the day was the 'Little Stars' section for children under 6. Three little dancers performed a dance routine for the judges and the audience and received great applause! After their performances, they were each presented with a certiicate and medal by Bill McDonald, chairman of the Falkirk Arts Network. Very well done to Isla, Chloe and Aria (with big cousin Murray!).
We were also delighted to have our Starshine Elite Dance Team perform at the end of day... they were outstanding and a great inspiration for all our younger dancers!
Guest judges and prizes
On our judging panel, we had, Ashleigh McGeorge (Stenhouse Performing Arts), Amy Hart (Professional dancer) and Elgin Adams (Professional dance artist). They all thoroughly enjoyed their day and were very impressed by the high standard of technique and performance across all the age groups. They also commented on how friendly the day was and how many talented young dancers we had take part, particularly in the Senior section this year.
After each genre, Mrs Jacqueline Clark, Director of Central Scotland Ballet School, presented the competitors with a certificate for each routine they had performed. In total, 154 certificates were presented. At the end of the day, the judges presented medals to their winners from each section; 42 first-place medals, including duets and groups, second place medals, bronze medals, runners up medals and 3 little stars medals were presented.
New Improvisation Knock-Out
Falkirk Arts Network donated a new trophy which will be presented annually for Improvisation. Thirty-one dancers took part and improvised to pieces of music in a knock out style competition onstage. The judges chose 10 finalists then whittled it down to 4 winners. Many congratulations to inaugural trophy winner, Anna Bremner!
Trophy winners
We were delighted to present additional trophies for the highest score in each section. Well done to the winners:
- Highest Score Ballet - Jill Russell (12)
- Highest Score Pointe/Character - Anna Bremner (16)
- Highest Score Acro - Hanah Firth (15)
- Highest Score Tap - April Beattie (16)
- Highest Score Musical Theatre - April Beattie (16)
- Highest Score Jazz - Hannah Firth (15)
We also presented a trophy to the dancer the judges considered the 'Best Newcomer', someone who had not competed in the competition before. It was awarded to Evan Steele (10).
The new FAN Award for Improvisation was presented to Anna Bremner (16).
The Millennium Trophy for the most outstanding performer of the day was awarded to Jill Russell (12) . Jill performed in 8 different routines winning 3 gold medals and 1 silver medal for and will perform a solo in some of our dance displays.
The "Spirit of Dance Award" for performance and love of dance was awarded to Sophie Jackson (9) who performed solos in ballet and character with a huge smile and obvious joy for dance!
You can view a complete list of the prizewinners here, and view a gallery of photos from the Choreography Competition on our CSBS Facebook page:
Thanks to...
Many thanks to everyone who supported the event, including the students, parents, friends and staff who just came along to watch and cheer on their friends and family. Special thanks to: CSBS teacher Hayley for running backstage; CSBS teacher Sammy for being the compere for the day; CSBS teacher Claire for tallying scores and organising the Elite Team performance; our judges who gave up their full Sunday; CSBS teacher Amanda for organising the day including the programme, designing the certificates and medals, photographing and videoing the day; Mrs Clark for presenting the certificates; the Front of House team at FTH; and the technical team at FTH for helping make our dancers look and sound fabulous!
We were very impressed by the positive and encouraging atmosphere throughout the day which ensured every participant had a wonderful experience. The standard of dancing and the wide range of ideas, was excellent too... we hope everyone is keen to join in again next year!