What Can Highland Dancers Achieve? Opportunities our Dancers Seized in 2024
It was an exciting year for Saorsa Studio Fredericton dancers on the stage, in competition, and in the studio!
Highland dance provides so many unique opportunities for dancers no matter their interests. We have dancers who are highly competitive and work toward big wins, and we have dancers who have no interest in competition and prefer to seek out performance opportunities and the social aspects of dance.
At Saorsa, we like to talk about the opportunities available to dancers in 5 pillars: Competition, Performance, Exams, Community, and Leadership. Let’s recap what our dancers achieved within those areas this year!
Competitive Highland Dance Achievements in 2024
Saorsa Studio dancers competed across Canada this year, working hard to put their best foot forward on stage.
- The first championship of the year, the Maritime Closed, saw Saorsa dancers earning several overall titles in their age groups.
- At the New Brunswick Closed Provincial Championship in May, Saorsa Studio dancers earned their spots to represent Team New Brunswick at the ScotDance Canada Championship Series in Kamloops, BC: Rhaya Kendall, Christina Dixon-Brewer, Sophie Bowles, Sophia Vincent, Edie Cummings (alternate), Rachel Brinkman-Mills, Hannah Howe (alternate), Kate Francoeur, Sarah Graham, and Lauren Horvath (alternate).
- At SDCCS, our dancers came away with impressive placings in all events. Notably, Rhaya Kendall placed 7th overall in the most prestigious event of the year, the Canadian Championship. Shanachie Dance Company, our professional performance group, earned top spots in Canada with 6th overall in Large Group Choreography, and 3rd overall in two respective Small Group Choreographies.
- At the Atlantic Canada Open Championship, several of Saorsa’s Premier-level dancers earned top 6 titles, including a championship title.
Dance Performance Opportunities this Year
Nothing brings us more joy than presenting highland dance on stage – whether for an audience of 8 or 8,000.
- Our dancers performed at volunteer events including at nursing homes, for Meals on Wheels, at the Fredericton Multicultural festival, at the Feast of St. Andrew, and more.
- Shanachie Dancers’ annual St. Patrick’s Day Ceilidh for a Cause performance raised over $1400 in support of Fredericton Community Kitchens!
- We put on two recital productions this year: our year-end production, Saorsa Studio Under the Sea! and our holiday show, How Saorsa Studio Stole Christmas. Both shows featured all of our dancers aged 1+!
- Instructor Kate Francoeur spent July performing with the OzScot Australian Highland Dancers at the Basel Tattoo in Switzerland.
Shanachie Dancers opened for The East Pointers at the New Brunswick Highland Games concert.
Shanachie Dancers performed on the street as part of Fredericton’s famous Harvest Music Fest
- Sarah Graham travelled to Germany to perform with the International Tattoo Highland Dance Team in the Berlin Tattoo.
Furthering our Knowledge with 2024 Dance Examinations
We are passionate about promoting opportunities for our dancers to progress in their theoretical and practical skills in highland dance.
- We had dancers aged 3+ complete over 150 different dancing exams! This was many dancers’ first time taking exams, and we had many dancers achieve top marks.
- Sophie Bowles, Anna Bowles, Kaia Lovelock-Rose, Jaelyn Botelho, Rhaya Kendall and Ashlynn Slack traveled to Toronto for the SDTA North American Conference. Dancers after achieving exceptional results on their dance exams. Rhaya was 5th overall in her category, Kaia was 4th in the written exam, Anna received judges’ recognition in the written exam, Sophie received judges’ points and recognition in the Master Class and written paper respectively, and Ashlynn was tied for 5th in the written exam.
- We had 3 dancers complete professional exams, all passing with distinction: Ashlynn Slack (Associate Highland), Alexa Goodwin (Associate National), and Kate Francoeur (Member Highland).
Looking for more background on what medal tests are and how they help our dancers? Read here!
Dance is a COMMUNITY - Here's How we Celebrated That This Year
In 2024, we successfully hosted NINE theme weeks at dance class & studio socials. These are all about encouraging our dancers to bond outside of class time, and included movie nights, skating, crafting, and more!
A dance studio isn’t just a space, it’s a home. And your dance friends aren’t just friends, they’re a family. ❤️
Leadership Opportunities for Highland Dancers
One of the things we’re MOST proud of this year is launching our Junior Leadership Program. This program is for dancers aged 12+ who are interested in one day becoming a dance teacher to develop their classroom leadership skills, get valuable experience facilitating and observing dance classes, and prepare themselves to pass on the joy of dance.
Our Junior Leadership program got off to an official start with five Leaders for 2024-2025. Participants have shown an incredible level of dedication to their classes!
We also celebrated our instructors and leaders with a bonding event at the Clay Café! Very wholesome.
THANK YOU for a fantastic year of dance!
We are continually blown away by our dancers’ ambition, hard work, and dedication to their sport. Without them and their dance families, none of this would be possible!
Want to open these doors for your child?
We have new dance programs starting up in January 2025, and registration is open year-round for all of our classes!
Come see what highland dance can do for you!
