SOUTH CAROLINA STUDENT WINS HONORABLE MENTION IN NDEO AWARD COMPETITION

Gabrielle Tull of Ridge View High School in Richland District Two has received an Honorable Mention in the 2008 NDEO: Artistic Merit, Leadership, and Academic Achievement Award competition:  she is one of only three students in the nation to receive this designation.  The NDEO Award is the nation’s highest student award in dance.  National Honor Society for Dance Arts junior and senior high school inductees are eligible to apply for the annual award.  Applicants are screened at the state level, with the highest scoring applications forwarded to NDEO for consideration at the national level.  Gabrielle’s performance entry was a solo based on Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings that she choreographed and performed.  The SCDEO panelists noted the sophistication of her choreography and the “strength and subtlety” in her performance as qualities that set her apart from other award applicants.  Gabrielle was awarded the SCDEO Award in two consecutive years (2007, 2008) and now adds this national recognition to the many acknowledgments of her achievement in dance.  SCDEO salutes Gabrielle and her teachers, Ellen Harrison and Jennifer Bull.