Wellington has the moves: ‘Have to Dance’ winners announced

Friday 17 November, the theatre came alive with 15 self-choreographed performances for the ‘Have to Dance’ competition. This year was the third annual competition and, for the first time, featured the addition of a Lower Prep competition. Three weeks ago, 41 groups and solo artists auditioned from years 3-11 to gain a place in the competition finals. All performances had been choreographed by the pupils themselves and were rehearsed in their own time. Once the finalists had been chosen they were given a mentor; Miss Spencer, Mr Larsen-Disney, Mr Wood and two of our dance scholars – year 12 pupils Sofia and Mizuho – worked alongside the dancers to polish their performances. In all, there were five acts for the lower Prep competition and six for the upper Prep and Senior School combined competition. The afternoon saw a great diversity of styles: ranging from Hip Hop to cheerleading to traditional Chinese dancing and even a football themed performance. Each performance pulsed with electricity and the atmosphere became especially exciting when the judges came to announce the winners. After reaching an incredibly difficult decision which saw just a single point separating the top performances, the judges decided that the winners were Daisy (year 5) for the lower Prep and Hannah and Helen (year 11 and year 10) for the upper Prep and Senior competition. It was clear to see how hard all of the competitors had worked on their performances, which were a credit to the College and themselves. Equally impressive and commendable was the spirit in which they competed. Congratulations to the winners and after seeing the standard they have set - we are really looking forward to seeing what our talented pupils can come up with next year.