After two days of mentoring the dancers in The 39 Days of July’s Duncan Has Talent – Dance competition, judges Laura Cardriver and Cathy Schmidt found themselves in their usual quandary.
How to choose among so many young, enthusiastic, and, yes, talented performers? They were told firmly that there could be no ties in the top three this year and so it took them quite a while and quite a bit of figuring and discussing to finally make the long-awaited announcement that everyone was eager to hear.
Classy Irish dancer Katrina van Boven earned first place and $500 from the Duncan Lions/ Sassy Lion group.
Katrina van Boven First Place
Second place (and $250) went to Carlow Rush, who whips together hip hop and musical theatre into a tasty, crowd pleasing treat.
Carlow Rush Second
Chosen for third was Kassidy Beaudry, who shows a lot of promise for the future, presenting two widely varied selection on her final day. She earned $100 for her third place finish.
Kassidy Beaudry
Tied for fourth, and each earning $50 donated by the Cowichan Bay Pub, were Tamara Mitchell and Alora Killam, who, like Beaudry, gave the judges and the crowd an entertaining modern dance number followed by something more theatrical.
Alora KillamTamara Mitchell
Duncan Has Talent continues this week with contestants going after the glory and the cash in Cover and Show Tunes, followed by Instrumentals starting on July 26, and, in the final week of the festival, the Nuts & Bolts competition, open to all kinds of performers of all ages. This last event offers no cash prizes.
