KIDS PUT ON A SHOW
THE 2018 Townsville Eisteddfod has been hailed a huge success, with hundreds of creative Townsville kids taking to the stage or putting their hard work on display.
The eisteddfod represents thousands of individual performances over the 19 days of competition. More than 2000 entries were submitted for this year’s competition across vocal and instrumental music, speech and drama, dance, literary, art and photography sections.
Townsville Eisteddfod Committee president Noel Price said the event had a nice feel to it in its 69th year.
“In the overall scheme of things, I thought it was a very good event,” he said.
“It was a big event. The feedback has been very good.”
Mr Price thanked the rest of the eisteddfod committee, the event’s sponsors and all the volunteers that made the production possible, and said he was excited to begin the planning for the 70th annual Townsville Eisteddfod in 2019.
Tap Championship winner Aleisha Langburne, 16, said she thoroughly enjoyed her Townsville Eisteddfod experience and was overjoyed to be awarded a championship title.
“I was really happy. I started crying because I was so overwhelmed,” she said.
“I couldn’t believe that I’d won. This is the first time I’ve competed in championships. Everyone was so friendly and I was so glad to have my teacher there.”
Aleisha, who travels from Charters Towers for tap and jazz lessons at the Ann Roberts School of Dance, said she wanted to send a special thanks to her tap teacher Ann Thurley.
“I couldn’t have done it without her,” she said.
Dance adjudicator Dianne Leatham said she was impressed with the performances and the manner in which the Townsville Eisteddfod was run.
“I’ve been adjudicating for about 30 years in Australia and New Zealand so I’ve see a lot of talent, and the talent in Townsville is on par with anywhere else in the country,” she said. “It’s a real credit to Townsville to have this put on for the young ones.”
This year was Ms Leatham’s first year adjudicating the Townsville Eisteddfod, and she said she would certainly return to the region again.
“It’s been very good to see how well everyone’s doing up here. I wish they’d get more community support,” she said.
“There’s so many talented kids here, these young ones put so much time and energy and effort into their dancing.
“They put as many hours into their dancing as any sports team would put into their sport.
“A chance for a dancer to perform on stage is what it’s all about.”
Ms Leatham said the quality of dance teaching in Townsville shone through in the children’s performances.
“There’s some very good teachers up this way who are teaching good technique and really nurturing the students,” she said.
“I see quite a lot of moves going around that are very dangerous in jazz and some contemporary sections – a lot of kids see things on Instagram like dangerous moves and overstretching.
“There’s none of that really going on here in Townsville. I’m really happy to see the good teaching up this way.”