Pupil Eloise started dancing at the age of 5. She tried out a few dance styles before opting to pursue freestyle dance. Freestyle comprises of 2 elements – fast and slow. Fast is a mixture of jumps, spins, kicks, and dance moves to music with a fast tempo. Slow is similar to contemporary with a more graceful style, and includes jumps, kicks, and spins.
Dancers are divided into age and difficulty levels and progress through the different categories of difficulty by competing against each other. Competitions can be either day competitions or over an entire weekend, with the highlight of the calendar being ‘Disco Kid, King & Queen’ held at Blackpool Tower ballroom in December every year.
At each competition the dancers take to the floor in a series of rounds until the final 6 dancers remain. The dancers have to ensure their routine is perfect and catches the judge’s eye so they can receive a ‘mark’ to enable them to progress to the next round. It can be highly competitive and one poor round can mean the end of the competition. Perseverance is most definitely required!
Eloise trains 3 times a week with a dance company, and she also takes contemporary and acro classes. In addition, she practices her routines at home on most days. She is currently in the under 14 starter category and recently attended the London Championships winning both the fast and slow sections. Her next competition is in Southport and, if she is successful, she will move into the intermediate category.
As well as the great physical exercise, Eloise has learnt a lot through dancing. She has learnt that success requires effort and hard work and if you have a bad day, you brush yourself off and try again. She has also made some great friends and enjoys celebrating their success as much as she enjoys celebrating her own.
Well done Eloise – stay determined and committed.
Team UoBS is proud of you!
