Dancers from East Point Academy competed in the virtual Taoli World Dance Competition in December, earning a total of eight awards. East Point competed against more than 600 nationwide performers in the competition.
“I feel their performances were outstanding,” said dance teacher, Yihao Chen. “I am proud to teach them.”
In addition to winning eight awards, the team also earned the opportunity to compete in the final round of the competition in California in the upcoming summer.
“We accomplished this together and I am super excited about the opportunity to dance with these people,” said fifth grade East Point dancer, Ivory Paavola.
The Taoli Dance Competition was established in 1985 and is one of the largest international dance competitions. Pan Zhi Tao, the founder of the Taoli Dance Competition, said “…from these children’s eyes, I saw their passion…They are young, but they really dance for joy.”
East Point Academy dancers earned the following awards for their performances:
Platinum award and Most Energetic award for Chinese Folk Dance- Lily Wilson, Megan Morrison, Jaya Young, Elvie Graves, Yixuan Li, Ivory Paavola, Jadon Page, Emerson Bethea, Jacob Early
Gold award for Chinese Classical- Kasaiah Hart, Zoe Partin, Saba Pontens-Alemu, Emily Zheng, Cathryn Barkman, Sienna Buck, Hanna Sophia Dornik, Adeline Fletcher, Kamryn Kennedy
Gold award for Chinese Folk Dance- Kasiah Hart, Emily Zheng, Sienna Buck, Lily Blum, Adeline Fletcher
Gold award for Contemporary Chinese Dance- Yixuan Li, Jaya Young, Harper Brown, Meagan Morrison, Ellaree Brown, Amelia Leonardi, Annabelle Loyd, Aria Le, Zoe Dong, Elvie Graves, Olivia Li, Caroline Moore, Lily Wilson
Gold award for Chinese Classical Dance- Kasiah Hart, Zoe Partin, Saba Pontens-Alemu, Emily Zheng, Cathryn Barkman, Sienna Buck, Hanna Sophia Dornik, Adeline Fletcher, Kamryn Kennedy
Gold award for Chinese Classical Dance- Yixuan Li, Harper Brown, Megan Morrison, Amelia Leonardi, Annabelle Loyd, Aria Le, Maggie Cole, Olivia Li, Mia Rodriguez, Lilly Wilson, Shelah Whitney
Outstanding Choreography award- Yihao Chen
Additional updates regarding the dance teams upcoming competition will be available on East Point Academy’s website.
Source: Cola Daily
