News
15 January, 2025
Footworks USA trip
The FootworksDance team headed abroad to Los Angeles and New York over the Christmas holidays to immerse themselves into the arts and dance scene in the USA.
Students performed at CityWalk in Universal Studios and one of the main stages at Disneyland California. They also had the opportunity to perform at a major outlet shopping mall on Super Saturday, a significant retail sales event during the holiday season.
FootworksDance owner Elizabeth Barritt said the students impressed audiences in the U.S.
“The guy at Disney was really happy with their performances,” she said. “He commented on the size of the audience before the performance, which then doubled while they were performing.”
The team from FootworksDance performed lyrical and modern dance routines to entertain and connect with the audiences.
Students, ranging in age from seven to 23, chose “colours” as their theme, dancing to songs named after different colors of the rainbow.
“One of the songs was ‘Pink’ from the Barbie movie, which is very popular. Then we found other color-themed songs like ‘I’m Blue’ and ‘Something in the Orange,’” Elizabeth said.
While in Los Angeles, students participated in workshops at the Millennium Dance Complex and Disney.
“At Millennium, the dancers were split into two groups to learn lyrical contemporary and modern choreography,” she said. “The senior class performed so well that they invited us to return for their open class, but unfortunately, we couldn’t stay longer.”
At Disney, students learned choreography from High School Musical, taught by a male instructor with extensive Broadway experience.
“The way he taught was inspiring for me as a dance teacher,” Elizabeth said. “The students learned the choreography in a unique and engaging way.”
At the end of the trip, some students returned home, while others spent Christmas in New York.
Highlights of the New York experience included seeing themselves displayed on a screen in Times Square, watching the Rockettes’ Christmas Spectacular, and enjoying Christmas dinner at the famous Broadway restaurant, Ellen’s Stardust Diner.
For some students, seeing snow for the first time was an unforgettable moment.
