Stella Burns - Be Discovered Scholarship Winner
Christmas in New York! Stella took part in the Broadway Dance Intensive, December 26–31 in New York City, as part of the BeDiscovered scholarship she won at the Peace River North Performing Arts Festival for Dance: We arrived on Christmas Day and stayed with a group of 19 dancers and their families at the Sheraton New York Times Square Hotel. It was a jam-packed exciting week and to experience NY City at Christmas was spectacular. Here are some of the highlights: The group was led by the very dynamic Judine Somerville, a former Rockette. Stella attended a Rockettes dance class, an audition class with former Rockette Rhonda Malkin and choreography class at Ripley-Grier Studios. She also attended Horton & Contemporary classes at the Ailey School. She attended Lyrical, Theatre Jazz & a Commercial Contemporary Class (which she was in love with) at the Broadway Dance Centre and attended a spotlight theatre jazz class & tap classes at Steps on Broadway, as well as a Ballet class at the Joffrey Ballet School. In addition to dancing: she attended the Broadway show & Juliet, had a meet & greet and later learned the choreography from a cast member. She danced the night away on a Statue of Liberty dinner cruise with all her new friends. To top it off she experienced a backstage tour of Radio City Music Hall, met a number of Rockettes, and watched the Christmas Spectacular. Stella performed a solo and with the group on an outdoor stage at the Intrepid Museum and had professional photos taken. She experienced New Years in Times Square. It was an experience of a lifetime!
In addition to the program Stella also had a theatrical solo choreographed by Tommy Scrivens and attended Broadway shows Chicago & Moulin Rouge (where after she met Meg Donnelly- who took a selfie with Stella- using Stella's phone- this was a huge highlight for Stella). We also had a fabulous time at the New Years Party at the StarDust Diner and after experienced the new years countdown in Times square. What a totally amazing experience! What a dream!
