From Channing Anderson – East Point Academy – Often referred to as “the Oscars of dance,” the Taoli World Dance Competition was held online in December of 2020. Dancers from East Point Academy competed with over 600 performers earning a total of 8 awards.

East Point Academy dancers earned the following awards for their performances: “Platinum Award” and “Most Energetic Award” for Chinese Folk Dance (Lily Wilson, Megan Morrison, Jaya Young, Elvie Graves, Yixuan Li, Ivory Paavola, Jadon Page, Emerson Bethea, Jacob Early), “Gold Award” for Chinese Classical (Kasaiah Hart, Zoe Partin, Saba Pontens-Alemu, Emily Zheng, Cathryn Barkman, Sienna Buck, Hanna Sophia Dornik, Adeline Fletcher, Kamryn Kennedy), “Gold Award” for  Chinese Folk Dance (Kasiah Hart, Emily Zheng, Sienna Buck, Lily Blum, Adeline Fletcher), “Gold Award” for Contemporary Chinese Dance (Yixuan Li, Jaya Young, Harper Brown, Meagan Morrison, Ellaree Brown, Amelia Leonardi, Annabelle Loyd, Aria Le, Zoe Dong, Elvie Graves, Olivia Li, Caroline Moore, Lily Wilson), “Gold Award” for Chinese Classical Dance (Kasiah Hart,  Zoe Partin, Saba Pontens-Alemu, Emily Zheng, Cathryn Barkman, Sienna Buck, Hanna Sophia Dornik, Adeline Fletcher, Kamryn Kennedy), “Gold Award” for Chinese Classical Dance (Yixuan Li, Harper Brown, Megan Morrison, Amelia Leonardi, Annabelle Loyd, Aria Le, Maggie Cole, Olivia Li, Mia Rodriguez, Lilly Wilson, Shelah Whitney), and “Outstanding Choreography Award” for dance teacher Yihao Chen.

Dance teacher Yihao Chen remarked on their hard work saying, “I feel their performances were outstanding. I am proud to teach them.” In addition to numerous awards, the team also earned the opportunity to compete in the final round of the competition in California this Summer. Fifth grade dancer Ivory Paavola  reflected on the experience saying “We accomplished this together and I am super excited about the opportunity to dance with these people.”

The Taoli Dance Competition was established in 1985 and is one of the largest, most respected international competitions. Mr. Pan Zhi Tao, the founder of the Taoli Dance Competition, said “…from these children’s eyes, I saw their passion…They are young, but they really dance for joy.”