Dance, ballerina, dance to victory

An Ennis ballet student has been named the first Irish winner of the International Theatre Dance Awards in ballet this week.
Sarah Nolan, aged 16, a transition year pupil at Coláiste Muire in Ennis, is a student at the Dinan School of Ballet. 
The International Theatre Dance Awards take place annually at the Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester and encompasses four dance categories, ballet, theatre craft, tap and modern jazz.
It is not an open competition and all students participating in the awards earn their place by being nominated by IDTA examiners as a result of receiving particularly high marks in IDTA exams.
There were only three Irish candidates nominated for the 2013 awards, with Sarah the only one nominated in the ballet category. She went on to compete against 76 other ballet students, both male and female, nominated worldwide. She made it through to the final on Saturday last and then at the end of the day, was awarded the overall prize in the ballet grades.
There are two categories, U-17 and O-17 and, according to the IDTA in Ireland, Sarah is the first ever Irish winner at the awards in either category.
Speaking to The Clare Champion Sarah said she was “so happy and so surprised” when her name was announced as the winner.
“I didn’t expect it. There are so many good dancers at the competition. When we went in we all were given numbers and then we were brought onto the stage and they taught us a class. In the class we learned a variation and then we all had to perform that in groups of four. It was a Spanish style variation, which is a fun style and there is a lot of character in it,” she said.
Sarah said what she really enjoys about ballet is being able to lose herself in the dance.
“I think it is great because you get to play a different character with each dance. There is a different feeling to each dance so you get to decide who to be with each dance.”
Niamh Dinan, the principal of Dinan School of Ballet said, “Sarah has been a student for approximately 10 years and spends, on average, two to three hours a day in dance class, six days a week”.
“As well as being a very talented ballet dancer, Sarah is an accomplished tap, jazz and contemporary dancer. Sarah has got tremendous potential and has a very bright future if she decides to pursue dance as a career,” Niamh explained.
Sarah was nominated last April and the competition itself is formatted in such a way that there is no specific preparation as the testing occurs during the course of a day.
“The competition runs in a series of classes, the classes are taught on stage and Olivia Pickford, a well-known ballet dancer, taught the classes in front of a live audience and four judges. You go blind into it. Everyone starts at a level playing field. You know the standard of work but you don’t know what exercises are going to be done. The judges assess technique and performance and how quickly they can pick up the technique,” she added.
As the classes progress, the numbers were reduced from 77 to fewer than 20 competitors. Sarah was recalled and, at 6pm on Saturday, she was announced as the winner of the competition.
Niamh explained that once you win the competition, you are not eligible for another nomination to that event but Sarah will be looking towards the O-17 category next year and her teacher is hoping a nomination will come through.
Already the Dinan School of Ballet has one nomination for the 2014 competition in the U-17 category, is Aisling O’Connor from East Clare.