Dancers compete at Royal Academy headquarters
Three of our young ballet students headed to London to compete at the Royal Academy of Dance!
The girls joined 50 dancers from across the UK to compete in the Genée Dance Challenge 2015 at the headquarters of the Royal Academy of Dance. Each competitor performed a short solo in front of an audience of family and friends. The performances were judged by Lynn Wallis OBE, RAD Artistic Director.
Unique choreography
Our three competitors were:
- Riona Clifford (12) Grade 4 - Level 1
- Sarah Leslie (13) Grade 5 - Level 1
- Serena McCall (12) Grade 4 - Level 1
The girls each had four 1 hour-long coaching sessions with CSBS teacher Amanda to choreograph and rehearse their unique solos which were based on themes and ideas they created themselves. Riona's solo "Faerie" was inspired by magical Celtic faeries and had a quirky Scottish theme; Sarah chose a piano version of "Skyscraper" as her music and her modern ballet routine reflected the theme of the original song which was all about overcoming your fears and disappointments to reach your hopes and dreams; Serena's classical ballet routine was based around her beautiful tutu and relected the joy and inspiration of ballet.
The routines were choreographed with constant reference to the judging criteria, and the girls had to spend a lots of time looking a photos and videos of themselves and putting in lots of personal practise. You can view a small gallery of photos from their final rehearsals on our CSBS Facebook page.
Excellent performances
Amanda was able to join the girls' parents in the audience at the competition and was very proud of their performances. Each one showed good technique, a wide range of expression and a lovely sense of musicality in ther performance. Overall, there was a wide range of ability, styles of ballet, and choreography ideas from the 50 competitors. There was only one winner in each level and, although they didn't win, we were delighted that 2 prizes were awarded to Scottish candidates! The Level 2 prize went to Aisling O'Sullivan from Danscentre in Aberdeen, while the choreography award was presented to Danscentre principal Karen Berry.
Please have a look at the photos from the competition on our CSBS Facebook page. Many congratulations again to the 3 CSBS students for their hard work and excellent performances on the day.