Students of Queenstown dance studio Dance QT are dancing for joy over some exceptional exam and competition results.

In DanceNZMade   exams, 14-year-old  hip-hop performer  Anju Okajima received an incredible 100 out of 100 at level 8 and a “Stardom” certificate.

Of the other 53 students who also took exams — where they were judged on 8-12 dances, depending on their level —  all scored over 80, with many in the 90s including Chloe Cao with 98 in level 6 hip-hop and Thea Cosgrove, Nina Harrison and Hannah Thompson who all scored 97s in, respectively, level 9 jazz & contemporary, level 4 hip-hop and level 8 hip-hop.

Accounting for their success, studio owner/head teacher Brooklyn McLeod, who once scored a 100 herself, says “I think it’s their passion for dance, they just love it, and it’s a fun environment as well”.

“Some of the competition girls do up to five or six classes a week.”

She’s also thrilled with her students’ performances at the recent Queenstown Dance Awards, with many firsts, seconds and thirds as well as golds, silvers and bronzes.

A six-girl troupe took out the 12-and-over jazz dance category for their performance of The Bangles’ Walk Like an Egyptian, which McLeod choreographed.

McLeod says she has about 250 students aged from 18 months to 18 years, including about 20 boys and many nationalities.

She is now taking enrolments for term 4 which will include end-of-year shows on November 28 and 29.

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