Two young Illawarra dancers have received awards at the 10th annual Sharp Short Dance festival which are said to help their professional careers greatly.
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St Mary Star of the Sea College student Jessica Hewett, 18, received the Most Innovative Choreography award for her work titled “To Which We Are Blind” which was also used for her HSC.
“I was absolutely not expecting it,” Jessica said. “I thought the standard was so high and all the performers had great ability and choreographic skills so when I got through to the final I was just ecstatic.”
St Mary’s teacher Martina Vissagio said these awards prove to the recipients their work is “worthy” because they’re judged by industry professionals.
“To get this sort of recognition from people who are industry professionals it just goes to show it’s not just a good HSC piece, it’s a really clever piece of a higher standard than just a student … and great encouragement,” Ms Vissagio said.
Dance teacher from the Wollongong High School of the Performing Arts Emily Ireland said the competition held in Parramatta was more prestigious than your usual eisteddfod.
“It’s not just a normal eisteddfod, it’s a much higher stakes type festival,” Ms Ireland said. “It also recognises dance as an art-form, so they’re valuing their choreography and performance quality as much as their dance technique.”
Her pupil Karlia Cook, 17, part of the school’s Pre-Professional Dance Company and was awarded most Outstanding Female Dance for a piece she choreographed titled “Resitance” plus received a secondment with the Legs On The Wall dance company.
“I was pretty shocked at first, but then also amazed,” Karlia said. “I think they liked the music I kind of composed, the storyline behind it. It had a bit of an intriguing aspect … I was studying creating movement that was dancing bigger than the body, so being able to tap into the style that was almost meditative.”
Presented by FORM Dance Projects, Sharp Short Dance is a competitive dance festival for dancers and choreographers aged 21 years and under. Competitors vie for awards and a share in prizes, as well as highly-sought after secondments with major professional dance companies.