Medal Test Results - June 2015

28 Medal Tests Danced

23 Honours Passes; 5 Highly Commended Passes

Muriel Chittenden; John Fell; Virginia Stanaway; Diane McKearney; Dave Eskildsen; Milton Brown           

Julian de Beer; Mary Evans; Shaun Bingley; Melissa Jones; Jason de Lorm; Megan de Lorm; Danny Dyer            

Pupils from Whangarei’s  InStep Dance Studio were examined by Federal Association of Dance Teachers Examiner Maurice Taylor, of Auckland, in the latest round of Ballroom Medal Test Exams held in June.

With each dance being judged out of a possible 100 marks, the top placing went to Virginia Stanaway in her Gold Bar Ballroom exam. She gained an impressive 94 for Waltz, 94 for Tango, 94 for Foxtrot and 95 for Quickstep.

Second highest mark went to Mary Evans with 93 for Rumba, 93 for Samba, 94 for Cha Cha and 95 for Jive in her advanced Gold Latin American exam. She gained third spot 93, 92, 91, 94 for the 4 dances of her Silver Bar New Vogue Sequence exam.

Mr Taylor is considered the country's top examiner and is a former world top 10 professional competitor and Fellow and Examiner of the Federal Association of Teachers of Dancing.

Mr Taylor said the standard of dancing seemed to get better each year and it was rare for him to award honours passes to all dancers. This showed the quality of training the candidates had received.

The results are below:-

Gold Bar Ballroom

Adult -             Honours - Virginia Stanaway

Advanced Gold  Ballroom

Adult -             Honours - Felicity Green 

Advanced Gold  Latin American

Senior -           Honours - Mary Evans

Elementary Gold Ballroom

Adult -              Honours - Leanne Vuletich

Silver Bar New Vogue

Senior -           Honours - Mary Evans, Diane McKearney

Senior -           Highly Commended - Ann-Marie Petty

Advanced Silver Ballroom

Senior -           Honours - Muriel Chittenden

Advanced Silver Latin American

Adult -              Honours - Alison Ru

Advanced Silver New Vogue

Adult -              Honours - Leanne Vuletich

Senior  -           Honours - Dave Eskildsen

Elementary Silver Ballroom

Adult -              Honours - Tania Wilson, Melissa Jones

Senior -           Highly Commended - Ngapoko Ashford

Elementary Silver Latin American

Adult -              Honours - Melissa Jones, Ngapoko Ashford

Advanced Bronze Ballroom

Junior -           Honours - Ariana Saunt

Adult -             Honours -   Jan McConnell

Senior -           Honours - Danny Dyer

Advanced Bronze Latin American

Adult -             Honours - Shaun Bingley, Megan deLorm

Adult -             Highly Commended - Jason deLorm

Advanced Bronze New Vogue

Senior -           Honours - Julian deBeer

Senior -           Highly Commended - John Fell

Elementary Bronze Ballroom

Adult -             Honours - Milton Brown

Elementary Bronze Latin American

Junior -          Honours - Ariana Saunt

Adult -            Honours -   Jan McConnell

Adult -            Highly Commended - Milton Brown