KNYSNA NEWS - Dina du Plessis, Milani Xhongo, Madison Starkey and Celyn Godfrey from Carmen's School of Dance in Knysna once again travelled to Cape Town to compete in the Ballet Dance Eisteddfod at the Sea Point Civic Centre from 8 to 12 May.
Carmen's students entered both the solo categories and ensemble items. We can proudly announce that all students achieved the goals they set for themselves before going to the Eisteddfod, with admirable success.
In order to best understand the girls' results, one needs to understand the grading process for Cape Town.
Prelims, tick
They held the preliminary rounds from 7 to 10 May, and the final "dance-offs" on 11 and 12 May. In order of lowest to highest, the awards in the preliminary rounds are merit, honours and diploma. It is the adjudicator's discretion to invite back any dancer from the preliminary round to compete in the dance-offs, but that is not the norm – generally, one needs to obtain a diploma in the preliminary rounds.
There is no set number of dancers that can make it through, and the adjudicator is not obliged to put anyone through if the standard of dancing does not warrant it.
If a dancer makes it through the preliminary round with a diploma, they are invited back to dance off against any other dancer/s who made it through for that age category or group, bearing in mind that they sometimes merge two age categories where ensembles (duets, trios, etc) make it through to the dance-off rounds.
Dance-offs, tick
In the dance-off round, once all items have been "re-danced", the adjudicator will then declare an outright winner (or two if there happens to be a tied first place). There are no second or third places, etc. That dancer in a solo (or dancers in an ensemble) will then be awarded a gold medal, as age category winner/s for that particular dance.
The many hours of hard work, effort and practice have rewarded these talented Carmen dancers, and it is with extreme pride (from both Carmen and the parents), that we can confirm that the following awards were given out to these young performers.
And, victory!
- Celyn Godfrey (7): five gold medals (three solos and two ensembles); overall age category winner.
- Madison Starkey (8): three gold medals (one solo and one ensemble, as her solo won two gold medals, one being for choreography).
- Milani Xhongo (8): three medals (one solo and two ensembles).
- Dina du Plessis (14): three gold medals (two solo sections), as well as being awarded the Western Cape Dance Teacher’s Association Bursary, for most promising dancer 13 years and older, at the eisteddfod.
An additional award for the best choreographed and danced junior demi-character solo was also awarded to Carmen de Sousa for her Sailor’s Hornpipe (as danced by Madison Starkey).
In summary, the girls came home with 14 gold medals, one choreography award and one bursary. These Carmen dancers succeeded in winning every item entered in the eisteddfod – a phenomenal achievement, competing against very large dance studios in Cape Town and surrounds.
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