PHILIPSBURG--Eight competitors, National Institute of Arts (NIA) Co-Director Clara Reyes and Dance Department head Peggy Oulerich travelled to France last week Wednesday to compete in the Confederation National de Danse competition which featured some 4,000 dancers from around the world.
Team NIA returned triumphant on Sunday, May 28, with gold and silver medals as a testament to their hard work. The venue, Le Capitol en Champagne, a 12,000-square-metre performance space, was awash with dancers in several categories, ages and disciplines of dance from ballet to outré style.
Team NIA, who arrived the day before competing, remained steadfast in their pursuit of excellence and delivered their best despite having to battle jet-lag and train rides. The days started at 7:30am and ended at midnight as the individual dancers were scheduled throughout the long day to compete at different times and on separate performance stages.
After an eventful and packed day, the dancers emerged victorious, winning as follows in choreographies by Oulerich and Reyes: First place, gold medal, Lian Borsje; second place, silver medal, Zoë van Zadelhoff; a duet by Naomi Warsop and Jeremiah David took second place and they were awarded a silver medal; second place and silver medal went to a duet performed by Zaquel Phipps and Ray Angel Simon; and team silver medal went to a group dance featuring Faith Peterson, Kiara Vanterpool, Ray Angel Simon and Naomi Warsop.
“We are excited to know that our collective hard work paid off and we are proud of our students and their dedication to their craft,” said NIA.
This competition was especially poignant as this was the farewell performance competition for Borsje and Van Zadelhoff, both of whom have been accepted to dance schools in the Netherlands and will be leaving this summer.
NIA is exceedingly grateful to the NIA parents who worked tirelessly to help in the fundraising effort and to the community of sponsors whose support made this trip possible.
