Local dance schools shine in Gqeberha

KNYSNA NEWS - A number of dancers from Knysna-based dance schools excelled at the recent Nelson Mandela Bay Dance Festival in Gqeberha, where 1 390 children from the Western and Eastern Cape provinces put their best on show.

Knysna was represented by both Carmen's School of Dance and the Sidwell Roman School of Ballet, with the festival taking place from 21 to 26 August.

Between the two schools Knysna had a total of 34 representatives with a total of 84 dance items being performed during the festival.

Carmen's School of Dance

A total of 13 dancers from Carmen's School of Dance performed 30 dance items, with the students and studio being awarded 19 gold medals and 11 silver awards. Celyn Godfrey was named the age category winner in the Girls 11-12 years Ballet Section, and was also awarded the adjudicator's choice for Best Junior Dancer over all the genres and age categories.

Madison Starkey was awarded the overall age category winner for the Girls 13-14 years Ballet Section.

The studio's Demi-Character Trio Time for Tea (danced by Madison Starkey, Celyn Godfrey and Aneeqa Loxton) was also acknowledged by being awarded the Hermie Trophy for Best Group/Ensemble Piece over all sections, ages and genres for the entire festival. They were also asked to perform at the prestigious gala evening on Saturday night, where the audience was highly entertained by all the young dancers.

From left: Isabella Meyer, Emmah Geldenhuys, Jana Olivier and Christina Jonsson performed Sidwell Roman's Hungarian dance.

Sidwell Roman School of Ballet

There was a total of 21 children performing 54 dances under the banner of Sidwell Roman School of Ballet. From the 54 dances they managed to muster 34 gold medals and 20 silvers. For the closing gala evening, two of the dances were selected to do special performances – Zélie de Villers' Polish Mazurka and the Warriors group item performed by Alysa Stead, Kiara Stead, Olivia Maycock, Shemené Conradie, Sophie Swire-Thompson and Zélie de Villiers.

These two items were further rewarded with a national trophy each.

They also had a few ballet age category winners: Gabriella Jonsson (Girls 7-8 years); Christina Jonsson (Girls 9-10 years) and Jaden Morton (Boys 11-12 years). Christina was also named the national winner in the Girls 9-10 years category, while Zélie was crowned the national winner in the Girls 11-12 years category.

Proud teacher Carmen de Sousa (second from right) with her award-winning students Celyn Godfrey (far left), Aneeqa Loxton and Madison Starkey (far right).