KNYSNA NEWS - The Sidwell Roman School of Ballet from Knysna participated in the Friendly City Dance Festival in Gqeberha this past week.
The ballet school fared extremely well, clinching two silver medals, eight gold medals and 14 double gold medals alongside nine overall festival awards.
The school's dancers, Caylee Dodds, sisters Gabriella and Christina Jonsson, Zélie de Villiers, Olivia Maycock, Jaden Morton and Cayden Bean participated in ballet (classical and demi-character), national and contemporary solo performances, duets and trios.
Zélie de Villiers and Jaden Morton, and Cayden Bean, also took part in the pre-junior and pre-senior championships respectively, with Zélie being named the runner-up in the girl's division, and Jaden and Cayden winning their respective male championships.
Gala event
All the dancers shone on stage, with some going on to take top honours at the gala event on Saturday night.
These included Gabriella Jonsson winning the girl's ballet section for ages 7-8; Christina Jonsson winning the girl's ballet section for ages 9-10; Jaden Morton winning the male ballet section for ages 11-12; and Cayden Bean winning the male ballet section for ages 15-16.
In addition, Cayden tied with another competitor to win the festival's Most Promising Ballet Dancer Award, and teacher Courtney-Drew Meyer tied with another teacher to claim the Best Group Ensemble Award for her piece, Serenity.
The dancers head back to the studio this week to prepare for the Nelson Mandela Bay Dance Festival, in which an even bigger team from the school will participate, held from 26 to 31 August in Nelson Mandela Bay.
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