Elite Eisteddfod South West: Manjimup’s En Pointe Dance Academy holds their own at competition

A Manjimup dance academy has held their own at one of the South West’s most elite dancing competitions, with 18 of their entries landing podium positions. Dance academies from across Perth and the South West took to the stage for Busselton’s Elite Eisteddfod South West for five days of pirouettes, twirls and leaps in styles ranging from contemporary to neoclassical. Manjimup’s En Pointe Dance Academy “held their own” according to the schools principal Tianna Webb, with 18 of their 25 entries placing in the top five. “The dancers have trained for the last six months in the lead-up to the competition and they did really well,” she said. “We had 25 different entries over the five days and we only had about five dancers not place in the top five.” A number of the 12 and under category dancers gave impressive performances, with Isla Pardini placing first and Chanel Proudfoot fourth for their neoclassical solos in a section of 12 dancers. Entering into the improvisation section for the first time as a studio dancer, Ashlyn Falcinella landed a fourth place position for her lyrical improvisation, with all five of the troupe dances placing in the top four of the competition. Ms Webb said it was a wonderful week for all of the dancers, and enabled them to connect, grow and learn as a team. “It was really nice to see where our Manjimup girls were at compared to other schools within WA,” she said. “Across the board the standard was really high ... it just motivated all of the kids to come back and work even harder ready to go back bigger and stronger next year.”