Oh how high she can soar! This past July, Wilton 6th grader Sienna Morris won the New York City Dance Alliance (NYCDA) National Mini Outstanding Dancer competition. The prestigious national title is given to the best dancer age 7-10. With her victory, Sienna will travel to several NYCDA regional competitions as a featured performer and will assist teachers in the convention classes during the 2018-19 season.
Sienna won the title from a field of 121 other competition qualifiers after the week-long event. Title contestants were judged on a solo, ballet and jazz auditions and their acumen during the full week of convention classes. Sienna debuted her new solo, “Forbidden,” at the national event, a jaw-dropping, contemporary dance choreographed by Westchester Dance Academy’s artistic director Kelly Burke-Fitzpatrick (see video below).
Her scores placed her with five other dancers to advance to the finals, where she danced her solo again, but this time at the NYCDA Junior gala in Times Square. Showing her strength, poise and maturity in front of nearly 2,000 people, Sienna executed her solo flawlessly, to win the title. “Sienna believes in herself and her abilities as a dancer. She has a humble but reasonable confidence. Her desire, determination and commitment to excellence enable her to achieve such success as a dancer,” says Burke-Fitzpatrick about her talented student.
After the NYCDA event, Sienna’s summer of dance continued with her Westchester dance team to two more July National competitions in Florida. At the American Dance Awards, an international competition that draws dancers from all over the US, Canada, South Africa & China, Sienna again garnered accolades from the judges and placed at 1st runner-up in the title competition in the Junior Age division (10-12 year olds). Additionally, she won the ballet & acrobatics audition classes and placed 2nd in the high score solo competition. In her final national event, Sienna competed against 130 Mini dancers at The Dance Awards in Orlando, Florida and finished her summer with yet another Top-3 finish.
Sienna entered 6th grade this fall at Wilton’s Middlebrook School and will continue to balance school and a heavy daily training schedule at Westchester Dance Academy in Mt. Kisco, NY where she studies Ballet, Pointe, Lyrical, Jazz & Contemporary dance. Sienna enjoys traveling to competitions and making new friends from other prestigious dance studios from around the world. They enjoy following each other online and then connecting at future dance events.