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www.insideHALTON.com | OAKVILLE BEAVER | Thursday, April 21, 2016 | 50 John Bkila Sub-Editor jbkila@oakvillebeaver.com Artscene "Connected to your Community" From left, Olivia Tracey and Kaitlyn DeLong, who train out of Oakville's Balletomane, recently placed in their categories at the Royal Acadmey of Dance second annual Dance Challenge. | photos by Bruce Zinger Images Pair of dancers net wins at RAD Dance Challenge Olivia Tracey, 15, and Kaitlyn DeLong, 16, take first place and grand prize, respectively, in their categories at national competition by John Bkila Oakville Beaver Staff Two locally-trained teen dancers recently placed in their categories at the Royal Academy of Dance (RAD) second annual Dance Challenge in Toronto. Olivia Tracey, 15, took first place in her Group D category, while Kaitlyn DeLong, 16, netted the grand prize for Groups C and D -- both train at Oakville's Balletomane Inc. Tracey told the Oakville Beaver she was honoured and thrilled to win first place in her category. "When my name was called, I was sur- prised.... There were so many amazing dancers competing, and receiving first place was so rewarding for all the training and effort that led up to that day," she said. For DeLong, winning also came as a surprise to her. "Everyone I was competing with was so talented and I was honoured to dance alongside them," she said. "I feel very proud... and to win the grand prize out of 24 competitors was a really big accomplishment. I'm very grateful for Elizabeth Ferenc and Laurie Westman for preparing me for this competition." Ferenc and Westman are also Tracey's teachers. The RAD Dance Challenge was held ear- lier this month and saw young dancers, aged between 10-17 and in Grade 4-Advanced 2 levels, take the stage at the Betty Oliphant Theatre in Toronto. A two-day, national competition The two-day, national competition had more than 60 dancers in four categories take three classes in technique, performance and artistry. The participants also had one-on-one coaching with Lynnette Kelley, instructor and RAD vocational examiner, and Marq Frerichs, ballet instructor, for their solo performances. The dancers performed for an audience and international judge and RAD artistic di- rector Lynn Wallis, who arrived from London, England for the competition. Dancers from each group were awarded cash prizes for first, second and third place and two overall grand prizes were handed out. The RAD Dance Challenge was DeLong's first competition -- she admitted she was nervous. "I was so scared I was going to mess up or fall off my shoe but everything went OK. I felt very prepared. I had great teachers that worked with me on my choreography and they made me feel very prepared for a competition like this," said DeLong, who began training at Balletomane at age three. see Nerves on p.51 Big Movies... small mall Prices! 171 Speers Road (at Kerr) Oakville General: $8.50 Children (3-13): $6.50 seniors (65+): $6.50 tuesdays: $5.00 905-338-6397 www.film.ca facebook.com/filmca @FilmCaCinemas the Boss (14A) April 8th the JunGle Book (pG) April 15th the huntsmAn: Winter's WAr (pG) April 21st mother's DAy (stC) April 28th rAtChet AnD ClAnk nk (stC) April 28th