CANOBOLAS Rural Technology High School teacher Amanda Hurford is hoping her school’s recent success at the Orange Eisteddfod will catapult the relatively unknown dance centre into the performing arts stratosphere.
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Canobolas had 85 students from years seven through to 10 perform last Friday, August 29, at the Orange Eisteddfod.
Up against some heavy hitters in terms of investment into their own performing arts programs, the two Canobolas dance crews entered at the eisteddfod came away with two wins, taking home first place in the year nine and over section as well as top billing in the year nine and under section.
Shocked to some degree, Mrs Hurford said the success was reward for a mountain of hard work.
“Hopefully we’re putting ourselves on the map. We’ll keep creating new dances and keep pushing dance through the school,” she said.
“It’s becoming quite big at the school and kids love it, so we’ll keep pushing it.”
VIDEO: Canaobolas Rural Technology High School's Year 8 dancing group:
Broken down into two groups - a group of year seven and eight performers as well as a group of year nine and 10 performers - the two crews excelled in performance, projection, costume, formation and how the overall performance was executed on the day.
“It’s a big achievement,” Mrs Hurford said.
“Winning both sections was fantastic for us. They work with Kate Foran on Wednesday’s for sport, so that’s when they practice.
“We were very happy with how the groups went. They tried really hard and gave it their best.
“There were a lot of competitors from near and far so it was a really good boost coming into the concert this week for the girls and boys to win.”
VIDEO: Canobolas Rural Technology High School Year 12 HSC major work:
With work on the routines beginning at the start of the school year in February, Mrs Hurford believes competing at the Wellington Eisteddfod was a “nice start for us”.
“But obviously the Orange Eisteddfod is the big one everyone wants to win,” she added.
“We weren’t expecting to win though. There was eight (teams) in one section and 11 in the other we had to compete against.
“We obviously had to bring our A game and make sure we were giving it our all.”