A group of Encore Dance Studio students brought some hardware home to the Border City from the Represent Dance Competition in Edmonton. Supplied Photo
A group of dancers from Studio Encore Dance Centre recently took a big city competition by storm.
The crew of 14 brought back the championship trophy from the Represent Dance Competition in Edmonton.
The event featured teams from across Alberta, Saskatchewan and British Columbia.
“When they went to Represent, to be honest with you, they were extremely humbled just to be there,” said Danielle Neron, Encore Elite program director.
“They knew it was a very intense, strong competition so they just wanted to go there and represent Lloydminster to the best of their ability … they ended up winning first place.”
Neron said for a few of the dancers, it was their first year in hip-hop.
“When we got there I don’t think they (the competition) even worried about our kids at all … they were the underdogs. They really were,” said Neron.
“A large group of kids from Lloydminster came together and really worked on a goal. The youngest one is 13, all the way up to 18. So, a wide range of ages working together and supporting each other—it was amazing,” said Neron, adding their group had far less practice time than some of the other groups at the competition.
She said because Encore is a dance studio and not a hip-hop company, they could only dedicate about an hour and a half per week to their hip-hop piece because many of the participants were working on many other pieces in other genres as well.
“Their mission was to somehow train an hour and half a week and still be on the same playing ground as these hip-hop companies—kids that are doing hip-hop multiple times a week,” said Neron.
“They worked really hard and they were focused and dedicated to the program.”
The choreographers of the winning piece, called ‘Idle Hands’ were Jayla Walker and Reid Friedl.
“Reid comes from Vancouver to co-choreograph with Jayla Walker and they’ll start again in September”, said Neron.
“This year we’re heading to Phoenix, Arizona to compete, and we will also be attending Represent (hip-hop comp) again because it was such a great experience. Regardless of what happens, they’ll always have that memory.”
The names of the dancers in the winning hip-hop group are Alia Skoretz, Britlynn Parsons, Emerson Chenard, Addison Hayward, Bree Hammel, Kaydence Sydia, Kadence Amundrud, Dylan Bulgin, Mia Lyndon, Sam Cey, Ali Stephenson, Amira Zwiers, Jhaira Hunt, Phoenix Wilson, Emma-Leigh Dziurzynski, Sydney Castle, and Ryelan Hassan.
