Rotorua's Avani Bourne with the trophies she won at the National Follow Your Dreams Dance Competition in Adelaide, Australia. Photo / Supplied
Rotorua's Avani Bourne with the trophies she won at the National Follow Your Dreams Dance Competition in Adelaide, Australia. Photo / Supplied
Rotorua’s Avani Bourne, 10, has a passion for dance and her dedication has paid off with some impressive results at an international dance competition.
Avani competed in the National Follow Your Dreams Dance Competition in Adelaide, Australia, earlier this year.
At a regional qualifier in New Zealand, Avani won three of her dance sections, and then in the New Zealand championship she was runner-up. To qualify to go to the Australian nationals, you had to have a score over 88 out of 100 in every dance, which Avani achieved.
At the nationals in Adelaide, Avani danced nine routines, with some of the classes being quite large and featuring 23-27 dancers.
Avani won three second places, a third place, a fourth place and into the top 10 for others.
She was also awarded the overall Junior Spirit Award and became an ambassador to represent the brand in New Zealand, with more than 1000 dancers taking part in the nationals competition in Australia.
Dance genres she competed in included jazz, acro, musical theatre, contemporary, song and dance, her own choreography, and two lyricals.
She also competed in an open section where she performed a Māori contemporary dance choreographed by Taiaroa Royal. Avani felt honoured to take a truly unique dance to an international stage where she was able to share a little of Rotorua/New Zealand’s culture, with the routine receiving amazing feedback from adjudicators and audience.
Rotorua's Avani Bourne at the National Follow Your Dreams Dance Competition in Adelaide, Australia. Photo / Supplied
Avani says highlights for her throughout the competition were getting the crown when awarded the Junior Spirit Award and meeting new people.
“I liked it all. It’s a cool experience.”
She started a business making hair products, which she sold at community markets, as well as holding a raffle with support of local businesses, to fundraise to attend the competition.
Her week is packed with dance classes, which she hates to miss. She trains six days a week for about 15 hours, with more when preparing for competitions.
She studies genres of musical theatre, jazz, ballet, contemporary, acro, strength and conditioning and technique, as well as private lessons for competition routines.
Avani says what she loves about dance is the feeling of being free and meeting lots of people.
“I also get to act like lots of different people, and I love being on stage.”
There are many goals that Avani has for her dancing year, including learning some new acrobatic tricks such as getting her front aerial, growing her skills as a dancer, and doing well in the Follow Your Dreams New Zealand competition.
She also recently found out that, for the third year in a row, she was the top musical theatre student in the Asia Pacific Dance Association examinations internationally. She achieved a score of 99.5/100 in the Encore syllabus level 3, and she is hoping to make that four in a row this year.
Karla says they thank the community for getting behind Avani’s fundraising efforts, her school St Michael’s Catholic School for allowing her to use the hall for practices, and her dance schools and private teachers for supporting and encouraging her to become the dancer she is.
