Susan Thompson
Express Staff
The Peace Region Dance Society’s competitive dance troupe attended their first away festival and came home with some impressive awards.
Over forty different studios from Edmonton, Calgary, Banff, Fort McMurray and beyond came together to compete in all genres from ballet and jazz to hip hop and acro at the Shy-Ann Dance Productions Sundance Stars festival at the Dow Centennial Centre in Fort Saskatchewan April 10 to 14.
The adjudicators were professional dancers and dance instructors Liane Litven and Mary-Anne Langstaff.
“This last festival was a positive eye opening experience for our club,” says PRDS instructor Leah Krzysztan. “With implementing a much more competitive program this season, our dancers took a lot of placements home after their first city festival. Which is exactly what our teachers have been aiming for – to have the opportunity to stand next to the larger more competitive clubs and possibly place against these clubs. We feel our studio is going in the right direction and hope to continue building on what we have been able to accomplish thus far this season. It’s exciting to know that hard work pays off and we look forward to the growth the students, teachers, and club as a whole will attain over the next few years.”
The festival was split into performance and competitive categories.
In the performance categories, some notable results were the PRDS junior lyrical small group which won a gold and first place in their performance division for “Slow Me Down.”
The junior contemporary large group “Breathe” won gold and second place, while the “Eighties Remixed” junior jazz line won silver and third place in the performance division for their age group.
In competitive categories, the PRDS acro groups proved the strength of the studio’s acrobatic dance program. The intermediate acro group won gold and second place in their category for their dance “Prison of Decision,” and the junior acrobatic duet “Circus” won gold, second in their category and second overall.
The junior acrobatic group “Blooming Lotus” also won gold, first place, and a choreography award in the performance division.
The ballet group “Gold Rush” received gold and a choreography award in the classical ballet competitive division, while the hip hop group “Hey Ladies” won gold and third place in the competitive intermediate large hip hop group division.
The junior classical ballet line “D Major” won gold and second place in their performance division.
Kambriea Burns received high gold and second place for her beginner hip hop solo.
She also won 2nd overall beginner soloist for her hip hop solo at the final awards on Sunday, a major accomplishment for such a young dancer.
Full results for all dancers including all solos and duets can be found on the PRDS Facebook pages.
The next competition for PRDS will be the Terpischore dance festival in Calgary at the end of April.
