"Nora was incredibly graceful and elegant"Watch Nora's solo 'Ian'
NSCD is exceptionally proud of second year student Nora Monsecour who skilfully secured her place in the contemporary category final of the prestigious BBC Young Dancer, 2017 competition. Peers Diogo Santos and Sean Moss succeeded in reaching the contemporary semi-finals.
BBC Young Dancer is a biennial competition for young dancers aged 16-21 across four categories of dance: Ballet, Contemporary, Street Dance and South Asian dance. The contemporary category final took place on Friday 14 April at The Lowry, Salford, where Nora competed against Jacob Lang, John-William Watson, Nafisah Baba and Joshua Attwood. All performed in front of a judging panel comprising Sharon Watson, artistic director of Leeds-based Phoenix Dance Theatre; Mark Bruce, award-winning dancer and choreographer and artistic director of the Mark Bruce Company, and critically acclaimed choreographer and dance producer, Shobana Jeyasingh.
NSCD is delighted for Nora whose determination and hard work were recognised throughout the gruelling competition stages. As part of the category final process, Nora received mentoring from Miguel Altunaga, and performed two self-choreographed solos and a duet with Cameron Stamper, a fellow student here at Northern School of Contemporary Dance. Unfortunately Nora did not progress to the Grand Final but we are delighted for Nora and proud of the journey she took throughout her 6-month experience, one which she said she would treasure.
Talking of Nora’s performances in the final, Sharon Watson said “I thought Nora was incredibly graceful and elegant. I think she has a real skill of articulating a really sophisticated lower half of the body with a contrasting movement to her upper body and I thought she delivered that incredibly well”
Watch Nora perform her first solo ‘What Happens Inside Stays Inside’ for the BBC Young Dancer Contemporary Final
Watch Nora perform her second solo ‘Ian’
You can watch the whole contemporary category final here.
