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Parksville dancer Grace Amendt earns first-place showing in provincial competition

Innovative Dance Studio member is the B.C. Level 3 modern dance winner
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Grace Amendt, 17, (far right) is the Level 3 modern dance winner at 2022 Provincial Festival of Performing Arts BC. She was one of nine representatives sent by the Innovative Dance Arts studio in Parksville. (PQB News photo)

A Parksville teenager earned a first-place finish at the recent Provincial Festival of Performing Arts BC.

Grace Amendt, representing Innovative Dance Studio, said she was surprised to learn she is the 2022 Level 3 modern dance winner.

“Not to put any doubt on myself, but there’s so much talent that I was up against and I could just never imagine that I was the winner and I was really grateful to hear that I won,” said Amendt, one of nine dancers from Innovate Dance Studio who qualified for provincials.

The provincial competition, held between June 5 and June 9, was virtual, so dancers submitted videos of their best performances from recent competitions, such as the regionals earlier this year. Amendt said she took into account both video quality, as well as which she considered her best performance.

READ MORE: Parksville dance studio qualifies 9 dancers for provincial performing arts festival

“You obviously want them to experience the facial expression and everything else,” she said. “I also just took what I did feel was my best run — even if I didn’t get a placing, because I’m positive that for one of my solos, I didn’t even place and I chose that video because I felt like it was my best run.”

Amendt added she was grateful to win in what may be her final year of dance. She said she has been putting off thinking about what it will be like to not have a full schedule of dancing in her day. Amendt will graduate from Ballenas Secondary School this year.

“I would like to look into the options of auditioning for a company or even teaching, because it’s just something that has always inspired me, so I don’t really want to let that go.”


kevin.forsyth@pqbnews.com

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