Junior Emily Van Duinen has been named among The Orange County Register Varsity Arts Artist of the Year Top 10, in the dance category. This year, 391 Orange County juniors and seniors in theater, dance, instrumental music, vocal music, visual arts and film were nominated for the accolade by their teachers. Now, a total of 60 finalists, 10 in each discipline, are competing for the title, which will be announced on May 1.

According to the OC Register article, “Over the next few weeks, the Top 10 artists in each category will be interviewed by a panel of experts in their discipline. These experts include distinguished artistic professionals and faculty members from Southern California universities, as well as a few representative high school teachers. During the interviews, the students will present their art form, and afterward, the panels will decide who will be named artist of the year for each discipline.”

St. Margaret’s Middle and Upper School dance teacher and Emily’s nominator Jamie Leneau said, “Emily is an extremely talented, technical dancer but the thing that really sets her apart is her ability to connect emotionally to the movement she is performing. When Emily is choreographing a dance you can tell she considered the emotion in the dance all along the way. Some dancers create a dance, master the choreography and then add in the performance and emotion aspects. Emily on the other hand, incorporates emotion, breath and storytelling into the movement as she is creating it. In that way, her dances are more authentic and expressive. Her solo dances are truly moving; the emotion and ideas she is expressing move through her then into the hearts of the audience.”

Showcasing her academic distinction, Emily was also just inducted as a junior into the Cum Laude Society, an international honors organization for which only a small percentage of high school juniors and seniors are qualified, during Thursday’s Upper School Chapel.  Click here to read the article.

Congratulations Emily!

Click here to read the OC Varsity Arts article.