7 December 2023
We are pleased to announce the recipients of the bursaries and hear from some of the winners on receiving these prestigious awards:
Winners
Juvenile Winner
Abi Brock (pictured below)
Juvenile Winner - teacher
Kirsty Simpson
Juvenile Runner up
Harriet Bevan (pictured below)
Juvenile Runner up - teacher
Joanna Bevan
Junior Winner
Ella Henry (pictured below)
Junior Winner - teacher
Gail Henry
Junior Runner up
Ivy Bizzell (pictured below)
Junior Runner up - teacher
Jonathan Reed
We heard from our bursary recipients on winning their bursaries:
Abi Brock, Juvenile Winner, Jean Cantell Award (student)
Abi only started at Kliks in August 2021, since joining she has worked hard to push herself to perfect her technique. Her dream was to win at Grand Finals and to win the bursary is more than she could ever imagine. She loves dancing and wants to do it as a career when she is older. She wants to use the bursary money to develop her skills to achieve even more.
Ella Henry, Junior Winner, Janet Clark Award (student)
'I am still in shock about winning and I can't wait to progress my training and improve my dancing with the bursary funds.'
Harriet Bevan, Juvenile Runner up (student)
'I am so happy to have been awarded the bursary and I am planning to use the money to go towards a dancing summer school in 2024. I can't wait to have this opportunity and do more of what I love with the help of the award.'
Ivy Bizzell, Junior Runner up (student)
'This award is very significant as competing at DFR has been a long journey for me as I started as an Under 8. Now in Over 14s, it is so amazing to finally achieve the National Winner title upon countless competitions. The Bursary Award was an honour to be awarded because of its high relevance to the ISTD Faculty and Its significance in aiding my dance school as well.'
Kirsty Simpson, Juvenile Winner (teacher)
'It is a privilege to be able to accept the Disco Freestyle and Rock 'n' Roll bursary award from the ISTD. It will allow for our dance school to provide more opportunities and further nurture the future generation of dancers. We are extremely grateful and will continue to strive for excellence and passion within our pupils.'
Joanna Bevan, Juvenile Runner up (teacher)
'It is a real privilege to be awarded the ISTD bursary. We hope to use the money to allow our students to explore more styles of dancing through external workshops.'
Jonathan Reed, Junior Runner up (teacher)
'The whole Star Dance family are thrilled to learn that one of their number has been chosen to receive the runner up award in the DFR bursary for 2023. On a personal note, it's great when one of your dancer's commitment, hard work, time and effort is recognized and rewarded by your peers within the ISTD, and it reaffirms your belief in your own teaching ability and methods.'
'As part of our outreach work, we will use the bursary fund to offer free workshops to local primary schools to encourage new members to join our dancing family, something which has proved very challenging to do following the aftermath of the Coronavirus pandemic, combined with the ongoing cost of living crisis. Also, our aim and belief is that every member should strive to be the best version of themselves that they can be, so with this in mind, we will use some of the funding to invite guest teachers in to broaden our members exposure, experience and knowledge of different dance genres and techniques.'
Gail Henry, Junior Winner (teacher)
It is such an honour to win this award, especially as Janet Clark was such a huge role model. By winning the bursary, I am hoping to be able to offer some unique dance experiences and training for my students as well as offering some SEN classes at my studio.
Well done to all involved!
