Gallery
KNYSNA BALLET NEWS – Altogether 33 dancers of the Sidwell Roman School of Ballet participated in the American Academy of Ballet (AAB) Performance Awards on Thursday 22 April at the NG Church Knysna in Fitchat Street.
The dancers had been preparing by learning the AAB syllabus for the entire first trimester of 2021 under the tutorship of the school's namesake, Sidwell Roman, and Courtney Drew Meyer.
The dancers represented a wide variety of schools in Knysna; 15 from Knysna Primary School, five from Oakhill School, two from Keurbosch School, one from Knysna Montessori, one from New Birth Youth Ministry, one from Sunridge Primary School, one from Stepping Stones Pre-Primary School, one from Riverwood Primary School, one from Little Elephants Pre-Primary School, and five home-schooled children.
The ages of participants varied from 5 to twenty years old and received 35 awards in total from Level 1 to Level 9 including 25 gold and 14 silver awards. It was the third time that the ballet school took part in the AAB Performance Awards which is held in many countries around the world such as the USA, Israel, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, and many more.
The dancers are given fixed choreographies to perform composed by Mignon Furman, the founder of AAB. Each AAB Performance Awards is adjudicated by an independent judge that is not affiliated with the school taking part in the awards on the day - in the case of last week's awards the judge, Alice-Ann Cassell from Johannesburg who started teaching the American Academy of Ballet (AAB) Performance Award syllabus in 2000.
Hadassah Conradie completed Level 8.
Shortly after this, Furman invited her to attend the AAB Summer School in New York where she was made an International Judge for the Academy.
In 2011 Cassell was honoured by the Royal Academy of Ballet in London where she was awarded a Life Membership. Cassell is the Gauteng organiser for the American Academy of Ballet and has judged throughout South Africa and internationally in Israel.
One of two dancers to take on two levels, Reuben van der Merwe took part in Levels 8 and 9. Photos: Blake Linder
'We bring you the latest Knysna, Garden Route news'
