Wanganui ballet teacher Melissa Tate is dancing her way to the top.
Miss Tate, a ballet teacher at Shirley McDouall School of Dance, has been awarded the Giles Bursary from the International Dance Teachers Association for gaining the highest mark in her teachers associate dance exam.
The exams are held in 69
countries, but she beat them all with a passing mark of 95 per cent.
The one-hour and 15-minute examination included performing intermediate-level dance, explaining anatomy and how she would correct a student, and then bringing in a student and teaching them a set of steps for which she was marked on her teaching, knowledge of syllabus work and steps.
Miss Tate said she had been dancing from the age of 4 with Shirley McDouall, and went on to attend and graduate from the New Zealand School of Dance.
She went on to work as a professional dancer with Footnote Dance Company before leaving New Zealand and working as a dance teacher for two years in Australia. She then returned to Wanganui to take up a position as a senior teacher at Shirley McDouall.
Miss Tate said dance was her passion and she couldn't imagine life without it.
The award was totally unexpected, and probably the biggest she had ever received, she said.
"It was a nice surprise, it didn't even cross my mind that it was going to happen," she said.
Miss Tate will travel to London to receive her award on July 12, where she will also attend dance classes.
She will continue to work toward her next level of teaching qualifications, and hopes to reach the level of examiner.
