On Stage Dance Studio company competes at Bedazzled Dance Competition

Madison proudly poses with her awards earned in competition last weekend.

The dancers of On Stage Dance Studio descended upon Richmond Hill this past weekend to compete in the Bedazzled Dance Competition held at the Richmond Hill Centre for Performing Arts.

“It’s a beautiful venue for the kids to get the chance to dance at. The professional stage, professional rehearsal hall and the wonderful audience seating, it was just great and everyone danced really, really well,” said On Stage Studio owner and artistic director Meghan Seaman.

Now in its 25th season, the Bedazzled Dance Competition is one of Canada’s leading dance competitions. Its main focus is to provide a fun, safe, positive and inclusive atmosphere for all dancers, studios and families. It gathers dancers from the Greater Toronto Area and southwestern Ontario to compete on stage before an audience.

Everyone from On Stage Dance Studio, all 112 dreamers, danced routines with some doing as many as fifteen routines over the three-day event.

“Some of them are really obsessed with dance, much as I was at their age,” Seaman said. “We had our showcase the weekend prior so they got their practice in beforehand. Everyone danced really well.”

There are different divisions based on age to perform in: mini, junior, intermediate and senior. The studio was well represented in all the divisions and placed in each. They were also recognized with overall awards for many different styles of dance as well.

“It’s a really nice thing to see we can be recognized for skill in many different styles of dance across many different age groups. It’s a very well-rounded training that is being shown off,” a proud Seaman commented.

Competitions such as the Bedazzled Dance Competition are an important part of the learning to dance journey.

“It’s always great to have the experience of performing in front of an audience … A competition is first and foremost another performance opportunity for these kids – to get on stage before an audience doing what they love. It’s great team building with everyone cheering for each other,” said Seaman.

It has the added bonus that they receive feedback from the adjudicators. While they are dancing the adjudicators speak over a microphone as the routine is being recorded by video. When they get back to the studio, they can watch the video and hear the feedback giving a great outside perspective of the dance performance.

As this competition was only the second time the dancers have performed on stage this season, the results were very successful for the studio, showing a confident future. Madison, (last name withheld) age seven, was awarded Overall Outstanding Mini Dancer (Mini Division, ages five to seven) and Aria Friesen, age 10, was awarded Overall Outstanding Junior Dancer (Junior Division, ages eight to 11). Other soloist dancers who placed in their overall division top five were: Macy Gibson, Nathan Hodgson, Margot Lefebvre, Allison Richter and Brooklyn Vandenberk.

Recognizing the part that choreography plays in the artistry and creativity of each routine, the teachers were awarded multiple awards including the overall age 12 and under choreography award going to Shaina Wood for her routine "Cool Cats."

The next competition is fast approaching as they leave February 26 (after press time) for Hamilton for the weekend. For more information about OnStage Dance Studio or to register for Spring or Summer sessions, visit onstagestratford.dance.