March 27, 2013
Students from St John’s Lutheran School in Kingaroy have won top placings in this year’s annual Dance Fever competition held in Brisbane on Sunday.
The young students were competing against hundreds of others from Brisbane private schools at the Sleeman Sports Complex at Chandler.
Teachers say they’re very proud of the students’ accomplishments.
St John’s students took nine first placings in the A-Grade competition against five much larger Brisbane schools.
Dance Fever began in 1999 when Brisbane high school teachers Chris Milburn and Maria Russo noticed that many of the students they taught were lacking self-expression, communication, etiquette and social skills.
They developed the Dance Fever program and watched it quickly turn formerly shy and quiet students into comfortable and confident ones, both inside and outside the classroom.
The program began to be offered to independent schools in the Brisbane area soon afterwards and was taken up by St John’s in 2005, the first school outside the south-east corner to do so.
The program runs in the first term of each school year as part of the physical education curriculum and is taken by all St John’s students from Prep to Year 7.
Students learn “couple’s dances” like the Cha Cha, Fox Trot, Jive, Salsa, Samba, Paso Doble, Tango and Waltz, which also helps them develop skills in social etiquette, respect, co-ordination, communication and sportsmanship at the same time.
They also learn how to dance in a team, which helps them develop teamwork skills including active listening, group co-operation and organisation, reflecting and responding to feedback as well as school spirit.
Classes are led by both male and female instructors.
St John’s Deputy Principal Karyn Bjelke-Petersen said the results of the Dance Fever program went well beyond simply helping keep the students fit.
“As part of the program all our students also learn that social etiquette is important, and this really helps their socialisation in later life,” she said
“We’ve heard many stories of our students moving on to High School for their senior years and being in great demand at school dances because they not only know how to dance but also all the courtesies that should go with it.”
This year St John’s sent more than 90 students to the annual Dance Fever competition to compete against other schools running the program.
“It’s huge,” Karyn said. “In the first heats of most of the dances there can be hundred of children out on the dance floor, and the judges have to walk in amongst them to make selections.
“They gradually whittle this down to the finalists, but the pressure is always there right to the end.”
This year’s St John’s Dance Fever winners were:
- Jacob Slatter and Emily Kerr:1st in Year 4 Foxtrot and 1st in Year 4 Cha Cha
- Henry Bowler and Abbie Moseling:(Tied) 1st in Year 4 Cha Cha
- Toby Schmidt and Maddie Rackemann:1st in Year 5 Foxtrot and 1st in Year 5 Cha Cha
- Daniel Gorbatschoff and Emily Brooks:1st in Year 6 Foxtrot and 1st in Year 6 Cha Cha
- Oscar Schmidt and Lize Potgieter: 1st in Year 7 Foxtrot and Year 7 Cha Cha
|
|
|
|
|
|
