Gone Dancing has been providing dance education for children ages 2 and up for the past eight years in Oyster Bay. Three years ago owners Carrie Kirincic and Caitlin Malley introduced a Competition Team.
“It was time for us to take our dancers’ performing to the next level,” explains Kirincic. “Competitive dance enhances their ability to really perform and dance for an audience. They also learn about being part of a team and the benefits of healthy competition. Not to mention the amazing friendships that are formed not only from the hours spent at the studio, but the weekends spent at competition.”
May 17 and 18 was one of those weekends. The 2014 Team performed in their third and final competition of the year at Walt Whitman High School. The 33 girls and one boy vied in the regionals of the Edge National Talent Competition – and returned to Oyster Bay with more trophies for Gone Dancing’s windows.
Performances are scored by professional dancers, and performers are awarded a rating based on their technique, choreography, performance and costuming. The highest rating is Platinum followed by High Gold, Gold, High Silver, Silver, and Bronze. Every performer at Gone Dancing rated “High Gold.”
The Mini Team (first grade) won first place in their division for “That’s What Girls Do.” The Junior 2 Team (second and third grade) won first place for “Hit the Road, Jack.” The Junior 1 Team (fourth grade) won first place for “Do Re Mi” and kicked off the competition as the first performers with “Conga.” The Seniors (fifth grade and up) won first place for both of their dances: the jazz number “Deeper Love” and the contemporary “Maghalena.” They also placed overall amongst 9- to 12-year-old groups, coming in fourth place for “Maghalena” and second place for “Deeper Love.”
The duet, “A Little Party” by Cailin Andrasick and Alana Conroy, took fourth place overall amongst 9- to 12-year-olds. Jane Gurney placed sixth overall for 8 and under solos with her lyrical number “Never Grow Up.” Meghan Kelly took first place for 9-year-old lyrical solo, Grace Barrios placed first for 9-year-old contemporary and Molly McGee placed first for 11-year-old solo.
Overall in the 9-12 age division, Gone Dancing took five of the top 10 spots: Meghan Kelly took third place for “Where I Stood,” Molly McGee placed sixth for “His Eye is On the Sparrow,” Lily Dickman placed seventh for “Falling Slowly,” Cailin Andrasick took eighth place for “Undo It” and Grace Barrios placed ninth for “Fighter.”
The dances were choreographed by Kirincic, Malley, and technique teacher Lauren Fetkowitz. They all concur with Kirincic who said, “We are so proud of the hard work of the whole team! They did an amazing job!”
