Local Arts Awards for dancers
The achievements of our students were recognised in the annual Falkirk Sports and Arts Awards.
Lucy Hutton (13), Bryony Robertson (13) and Nicola Thomson (16) were each commended for their achievements in Ballet. They were invited to attend a formal reception and award ceremony at Falkirk Town Hall alongside award winners from across the Sports and Arts. They were presented their award by Provost Pat Reid.
Lucy and Bryony each won the Royal Academy of Dance 'Genée Dance Challenge' and were also invited to perform at the prestigious Phyllis Bedells competition in London. Lucy and Nicola have each won Awards at the Royal Academy of Dance Awards days with Lucy also receiving the prize for best overall.
Arts Personality of the Year
We were delighted that Anne McEwan, Head of Denny Dance Academy at Denny High School received the Personailty of the Year Award for her services to Dance.
Anne successfully established the Dance Academy at Denny High School in 2008. Combining this role with her position as Head of the Physical Education Department she has been able to truly bring 'Curriculum for Excellence' to life, integrating dance and education in an exciting innovative way. The Dance Academy has been highly commended by HMI and used as an example of best practice across Scotland. The dance students at Denny High are inspired and encouraged by Anne’s remarkable teaching qualities. They have gained significant success in examinations, projects and performances. She has provided them with opportunities and experiences which most of them could never have achieved without her personal hard work and dedication. During this time, Anne also successfully battled a serious illness.
Most recently, she was appointed onto the National Assessment Panel for Dance and an SQA marker for Intermediate and Higher. She is delighted with the continued exceptional SQA success of all the dance candidates at Denny High and Jazz Art and is leading them on the new HNC Contemporary Dance Course which offers a qualification which until now has been accessible only from a further education establishment.
We have had the priviledge of working with Anne to deliver elements of the dance course at Denny High and send many congratulations on her very well deserved Award.