Forty-two students from Thompson dance studio Dare 2 Dance traveled to Winnipeg in March to compete in the 5-6-7-8 Showtime Dance Competition, and many came home with trophies and invitations to compete in the Dance World Cup.
5-6-7-8 Showtime was the first dance competition of the year for Dare 2 Dance. It annually hosts 17 regional dance competitions across Canada and the United States, and since 2008 has also organized the Dance World Cup, which this year will be in Niagara Falls over the Canada Day weekend.
The Thompson group was led by Dare 2 Dance owner and director Lindsey Rondeau, teacher Ashley Cormier, and student teachers Kelsi Hitch, Sherise Kreuger, Danielle Spence, and Devon Correia.
It was the culmination of months of work for the Dare 2 Dance students and teachers, who had been working on this year's routines since September. Duos, trios, solos, and group performances were entered in six different dance styles, and the studio came away with trophies in each style.
For group performances, Dare 2 Dance won one first-place and two second-places trophies in ballet demi-pointe, one first-place, one second-place, and two third-place trophies in jazz, one first-place and two second-place trophies in hip hop, first- and second-place trophies for lyrical dance, a third-place trophy in the contemporary and modern dance category, and a second-place trophy in tap.
Among duos and trios, two third-place trophies were picked up in ballet, two firsts and seconds and a third in jazz, a first, a second, and a third for both hip hop and lyrical, a first and two seconds for contemporary/modern, and a second for tap.
Solo trophies included a first, a second, and three thirds for ballet, three third-place trophies for jazz, two seconds and a third for hip hop, two firsts, a second, and a third for lyrical, and two firsts, two seconds, and one third for contemporary/modern.
Routines which received the highest marks from the judges were invited to compete in the Dance World Cup, including two Dare 2 Dance group performances: the Fly Away aged-nine-and-under ballet group of Precious Merasty, Bronte Land, Keyanna Boyko-Oulette, Morgan Nakonechny, Reese St. Pierre, Taylor Volanski, Madison McIvor, Mekala Meehan, Jenna Horvath, Cecila Michelutti, Abigail Pilon, Abbey McMurchy, and Sydney Vallance, and the aged-nine-and-under jazz group's performance of Ice Cream Freeze, which also featured Pilon and St. Pierre as well as Hanah Gagnon, Gina Mitchell, Kayla Belton, and Carrissa Kennedy.
Duos and trios advancing to the Dance World Cup include the 10-and-under jazz duo of Nakonechny and Hannah Lothian's performance of What I've Been Looking For, the aged-10-to-12 contemporary/modern duo of Tess Bennett and Breanna Mayor's performance of Gravity, and Turn The Beat Around as performed in the aged-11-to-12 jazz category by Mayor, Lothian, and Bailey Oberdorfer.
Two solo dancers were also invited to the Dance World Cup. Kelsi Hitch will be competing in ballet and contemporary dance, while Lacee Nakonechny will be competing in jazz and lyrical. Both finished as second runners-up for Dancer of the Year in their age groups (16-and-under for Hitch, 12-and-under for Nakonechny), and for that they each received a medal, a Dancer of the Year short, and a cheque for $50. Sherise Kreuger also qualified for Dancer of the Year aged 16-and-under, and received a medal and a shirt.
Many Dare 2 Dance students are also headed to Edmonton in May for the Dance Power competition.
