Artistry in Motion Take Home Gold
The Dancers from Artistry in Motion, the in house dance company of the Des Plaines Park District, competed at the American Dance Awards March 16 and 17 at Governor's State University in University Park, IL. Ranked as one of the best dance competitions in the country, the ADA recognizes outstanding talent in competitive dancing in Ballet, Lyrical, Modern, Tap, Jazz, Hip Hop, Contemporary, Song and Dance, Adagio, Irish Step, and Clogging. The American Dance Awards annual competition places emphasis on technique and is open to dancers across North America. This year the 250 entries were comprised of dancers from eleven studios in Illinois and Indiana.
The Artistry dancers won two Ultimate Gold, ten Gold, and sixteen High Silver medals. The Ultimate Gold winners were: Meghan Hanrahan for “Uprising,” a jazz solo, choreographed by Mary Williams, and “Machine,” a Contemporary duo choreographed by Cecilia Ferguson-Bell for Hanrahan and Kim Diebold.
The Gold award winning routines were Hanrahan's Modern solo, Invisible, (Cecilia Ferguson-Bell, choreographer) and Hip-Hop solo, Hold Up Your Hand, (Karlo Familara, choreographer); Diebold's Contemporary solo, Sigh No More, (Ferguson-Bell, choreographer) and Lyrical solo, Someone Like You, (Williams, choreographer); Megan Swanson's Lyrical solo, Sort Of, (Williams, choreographer), Hanrahan, Diebold, and Suzanne Kukec's Tap trio, Fix You, (Laura Chiuve, choreographer); Drummer Boy, a large group Tap piece, (Chiuve, choreographer), Cosmic Love, a small group Contemporary piece (Williams, choreographer); Kayla Reeves, Greta Sorensen, and Nataley Grimmer for their Tap trio, Moses, (Chiuve, choreographer); and Girls, Boys, and Hip-Hop, a small group Hip-Hop, (Williams choreographer).
On March 10, Artistry was one of twelve studios from Michigan, Indiana, and Illinois to compete at DanceAmerica Detroit. Two first Place awards were awarded to Hanrahan one for her Hip-Hop solo, Hold Up Your Hand, and one for Carmen, a classical Pointe piece choreographed by Anne Gollenberg. Jordin Suwalski also placed first with her Lyrical solo Blood Brothers, choreographed by Williams. Her performance qualified her as a Dancer of the Year Semi-finalist in the Petite division. Jackie Rentner and Kari Radke each placed third: Rentner for Beautiful, a Lyrical solo, choreographed by Gollenberg, and Radke for Everybody Got Their Something, a Tap solo, choreographed by Chiuve. Radke's performance qualified her as a Dancer of the Year Semi-Finalists. Suwalski and Radke join six additional members of Artistry in Motion, Hanrahan, Diebold, Swanson, Mathew Skorupski, Jenna Specchio, and Erika Hahn who will compete at Nationals this summer in Orlando, Florida in the Dancer of the Year Finals.
The next Artistry in Motion performance will be at the annual School of Dance recital, “Dancing on Air,” June 9 and 10, at the Prairie Lakes Theatre. Tickets are $7 in advance, $8 at the door. For more information call 847-391-5711 or visit www.DPPparks.org