PARIS – A local Oxford Hills dance company, Northeast Dance Method, a pre-professional student dance company of Northeast Academy of Dance in Paris, competed against hundreds of students from all over the east coast at the Co. Dance competition in Boston on Feb. 11.
Co. Dance is a national competition for many serious dancers to submit their best works before a panel of judges.
Dance Method members Danielle Martin, Mariah Colby, Alyssa Parsons, Kaleigh Freitas, Kourtney Boyce, Mikenzie Merrill, Taylor Parsons, Lindsey Redgate, Brynn O’Conner, Kyli LeBreque and Abigail Simmons presented five dances, which secured them a silver and four high silver trophies.
Students also participated in two days of intensive classes in jazz, hip hop, ballet, tap and contemporary with some of the nation’s top dance choreographers.
A judge said on their feedback tape that NE Dance Method is “a promising group with a strong beginning and excellent choreography behind them. Watching their pieces has been different from anything else we have seen tonight.”
“I am deeply proud of my dancers,” said artistic director Tyler Wing. “Many of these kids are in the earliest stages of their training and traveled to a major city to compete against students who study dance 20 hours a week or more. Each of these girls have shown incredible talent, combined with remarkable determination. All of their hard work over the past six months has made this weekend’s competition such a resounding achievement.”
“I think each of these girls have changed from this experience,” said Michelle Keyes, owner of Northeast Academy of Dance. “They have always been very committed to doing their best in classes we offer. But traveling to Boston and competing against dancers who study almost everyday of the week, combined with taking classes with world class instructors has made a definite change in each of them.”
The dancers study jazz, ballet, hip hop and lyrical at Northeast Academy of Dance under the instruction of Tyler Wing and Karen Lee. For more information on the dance company or the school, visit www.neacademyofdance.com or call 221-0387.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.