StarQuest Dance Competition 2012 Results/Recap

A bit about the scoring: every piece is adjudicated by a three judge panel and is awarded Silver, High Silver, Gold, High Gold, or Platinum.  Platinum is the best, some don’t get anything.  The top five highest point totals in each category are then recognized, number one is awarded a trophy and usually a free entry in the next competition.

My first dance performance, when I was 10, was at the Mandeville Auditorium at UCSD. I’ve performed there 15 times and I still can’t find it on the first try. Even with 4 iPhones out tracking our every move, it still took 30 minutes to find a parking lot.

StarQuest stepped it up this year, there was a lot of talent to compete with. Friday night was Solo night, I had two students competing with my choreography. Taylor, 17, has been dancing for just under a year, but made a big impact in his first competition; he won Classic Senior Solo top score, Platinum, and a Special Judges Award for Strength for his solo to “Requiem for a Dream”.  Rya, 15, finished second overall in the same category with High Gold and a Special Judges Award for Style.  The executive producer of StarQuest, Michael, approached me after the competition and told me he loved the choreography and was looking forward to the group numbers on Saturday, in fact, he made the girls promise several times to tell the stage manager to alert him before they went on so he could come down and sit in the audience for a closer look. Friday literally couldn’t have gone any better.

Saturday kept us all on our toes, minutes before we took the stage we had to adjust the spacing for a missing dancer who had to be kept out, suddenly ill. Our hip-hop number, choreographed with help from Chavia Knight, placed fifth overall, with High Gold in Classic Teen Small Group.  “Bloody Mary” was awarded a Special Judges Award for it’s unique concept, it finished fourth overall, High Gold.  The last piece I had in the competition was a beautiful duet between Rya and Taylor to “Nicest Thing”, it won Classic Senior Duet/Trio Top Score, High Gold, and a Special Judges Award for Chemistry.

I am very pleased with our first competition of the season, we did well, but we have room to improve and we will.  The next competition is in just over three weeks in Coronado, in the meantime, I’ll be posting combination clips and other content.  Look for the “Bloody Mary” video and my Choreography Reel, coming this month.  Until then,

#DanceRinseRepeat

Arwen Daniels

 

P.S.  Here are the scores, out of a possible 300, a 264 is Platinum:

“Requiem for a Dream”-269.8 ~ “Toxic”-262.1 ~ “Me Against the Music”-257.1 ~ “Bloody Mary”-263.7  ~ “Nicest Thing”-263.7