Many pupils of the Rye Dance Centre entered the 2026 Hastings Festival. Competitors were aged between three and fifteen, some with several years of experience and many others new to performance competitions. Every child gave their best performance and the fun and confidence gained is all part of life’s joyful experiences and will stay as good memories for life.
Solo, duet and group entries gave all children the opportunity to perform with their friends and learn about working together, thinking of others and team-building towards one positive goal of a great performance and entertaining the audience, mainly their mums, dads and extended family.
Medals were won and lost but there were only smiles and no tears as all agreed that taking part is often more important than the end result. We are super proud of all the hard-working dancers and their commitment to their hobby, their art.
Now we all return to the studio and work again on our technique and performance for next year: onwards and upwards.
One of the student’s parents wrote, “Hastings music festival is such a great opportunity for the children to be in the theatre environment and to get experience on stage. I have such fond memories of dancing at Hastings with Rye Dance Centre and now I’m proud to watch my daughter and her friends dance there, too. The children work so hard throughout the year learning and perfecting their dances and it’s so lovely to see them grow in confidence year on year. We are so lucky to have such a long-standing local festival.”
Image Credits: Rye Dance School .