Alison's Studio of Dance - Term 2 Wrap-Up

What a busy eleven weeks we had in Term 2! It was great to see all of our students working so hard and thriving in their classes.

We started with lots of preparation and practice for our Medal Tests with Miss Tate in Week 9. Medals are a short exam of between 1 and 4 dances (depending on age) where students receive a certificate and a medal from head office in England. We love having Miss Tate visit our studio as our IDTA examiner, and received awesome feedback with a 100% pass rate. We're eagerly awaiting the arrival of our medal shipment from England. Well done to all the ballet, jazz, tap and contemporary students who sat their exams.

At the end of the term our competition students danced at the NPCS Dance Competition at the newly re-opened Theatre Royal. This was a really fun, supportive environment for five days of dancing - kudos to the committee! Every dancer showed their hard work and love of dance on stage, and we're very proud of all of you. Special mentions to: Jessica, Arabella, and Briar for competing in the NPCS Ballet Award (Jessica received third place); Arabella for competing in the LGS Jazz Award; Paipa-Jane and Viriato for receiving Judge's Encouragement Awards; Briar, Zelmari, Jessica, Kaida, and Ruby for receiving a first placing in their classes; Briar and Jessica for receiving aggregate scholarships and special awards; and to Sofia, Arabella, Ruby, Zelmari, Edie, Kaida, Clementine, and Isla for debuting new dances. Well done to all!

We would also like to thank Lily and Briar for stepping into mentoring roles at the competitions; as Alison was unfortunately unwell, it was awesome to have some of our seniors help Selene get our juniors warmed up and get ready for the stage. A big thank you to the parents who gladly helped Selene look after some of our juniors who had to be dropped off to the theatre (as their parents were working).

Finally, three of our seniors competed in the Jean White Memorial Scholarship held at the New Plymouth Repertory Theatre on the Friday of Week 11. These girls completed a ballet masterclass held in front of the judge, before dancing their neoclassical and variation on pointe. It is a huge achievement to take part in Jean White, and we are very proud of you all. Special congratulations to Jessica, who placed second.

We're now moving into grade exams in Term 3, with a visit from our NZAMD examiner for our jazz students in August, and another visit from the IDTA for ballet grades, hip hop, and junior tap/contemporary not far behind. In addition, our competition students are looking forward to performing at the Special Needs Extravaganza in a few weeks time, and concluding the term with a visit to Hawera for their annual dance competition.

Keep up the good work!

Alison and Selene