Eight ballet dancers from Dance Academy and their teacher, Miss Ingrid Desira Buttigieg, have just returned from an exhilarating dance experience in Los Angeles. They were invited to attend the International Youth Dance Festival, Dance Excellence, by director Miss Annie McQuitty, to particpate and represent Malta at this global dance gathering. In total there were 21 countries from all over the world. The students were exposed to a full week of Masters classes in ballet, tap, funk, lyrical jazz, stomp, hip hop, musical theatre, modern, fusion, improv, singing, acting and performance. They also had the opportunity to attend classes in auditioning techniques applicable to the area of dance. These Masters classes were conducted by well known teachers in the entertainment field such as: Bill Brawley, executive and artistic director of The Young Americans; Robyn Brawley, an internationally acclaimed ballet dancer, choreographer/director; Alex Little, choreographer and dancer; Heidi Garrett choreographer on the TV show ‘So you think you can dance?’; Keith Cloifton; David Wilcox, artistic director of Long Beach Ballet Academy, and Stacey Tooley besides others.
The week long activites included a performance on the Merlot Stage in Disneyland, for which the group was presented with a participation certificate. The students also participated at the International Performance Boards with 2 dances in classical and lyrical modern. These Perfromance Boards were audjucated by Adam Parson, Heidi Jarett and Robyn Brawley. Both dances were awarded the Superior Award presented in Honour of World Class Dance Achievement. The group also had the opportunity to visit the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood to watch ‘Iris’ by the internationaly acclaimed ‘Cirque du Soliel’. After the performance the dancers had the chance to meet up with the company cast for a question and answer session. Moreover, the students had the time to enjoy their trip as they visited the Disneyland parks, Knotts Farm Park, Hollywood and Santa Monica.
Photograph taken at the end of performance in Disneyland.
Back row: Ylenia Camilleri Brennan, Francesca Ellul, Rebekah Micallef, Ingrid Desira Buttigieg, Maria Debono, Tessa van Avendonk
Front row: Veronica Micallef, Michaela Debono, Valentina Micallef