Determination, grace and maturity were three words that came to mind whilst April Langstraat spoke to us on 26th May of her “Ballet Adventures”.
Over the past six months, April has gone from being a talented dancer … to winner of the silver medal at a huge World Competition held in Florida … to being offered a scholarship at the Princess Grace Dance Academy in Monaco.
At 14 years old this success, we learned, was due to three main things: her love of dance and therefore her dedication to practice, excellent guidance from the Mary Rogers School of Ballet in Lower Hutt (since the age of 4 years) and the financial and wholehearted support of her parents.
We can only wish April well as she contemplates the big options ahead of her. If she chooses Monaco, then it would mean 4 years away from her family, intense training and academic lessons but also the strong possibility she will be invited to join an international ballet company on graduation. Together with her family this decision will be made in the near future and we will be kept informed.
April and her father, Danny, finished their presentation with a video of April performing and a sincere thanks to our club for the financial support we have given April.