Caroline Coomber School of Dance

MEDAL TESTS

Amazing 2023 Medal Test Weekend

Thank you so much to all of you who supported us during our amazing 2023 Medal Test weekend (Friday 29 September to Sunday 1 October). It was a lot of hard work and a lot of organisation and expense, but it was well worth it. Fantastic turn out at the workshops.

Joan Martin Medal Tests Joan loves coming to see us. As she said on Friday evening, she travels all around the world in her current role as President of the UKA and coming to us is always the best experience. What a compliment to us all. She absolutely loved her luxury cabin accommodation up at Burgie and its amazing views. Thank you to Rob and Sue for letting us hire it for her.

Elgin City Football Club worked extremely well as a Medal Test venue. Thank you also to my mum for providing all the teas and sandwiches, and to Cath for her fabulous award winning home baking. Thank you also to Brian for driving Joan back and forward from Burgie. Big thanks also to Dawn for being in charge on Medal Test day and for keeping everyone calm and organised. I have such amazing people around me and I feel so privileged.

Great support as always from Lesley Gunn and the Thurso Dancers.

I am so proud of every single person who did their Medal Test. You were all just amazing. Such a sense of achievement for you all. As Joan said, she is not so interested in the routines etc that we do. She is more interested in how it is danced – the way each person moves and interprets it. So don’t worry if you had to stop or made a mistake at any point, she totally sees past that.

I hope you all enjoyed the Dance at Lossiemouth Town Hall – an old favourite of a venue for us. The floor was seldom empty but very slippery, and Joan feels we made the correct decision in having the Tests at Elgin City FC due to this. It is such a shame because we have had many happy times in Lossiemouth over the years.

The next thing I need to arrange is our Christmas Dance date – probably a Sunday afternoon like last year and a Medal presentation evening. I’ll keep you all posted.

Joan called me on the Wednesday after the Medal Tests weekend, saying that she absolutely loved her visit to us. She was so impressed, not only with the dancing and the welcome she was given, but also by the way everyone was so friendly, supportive and respectful of each other. All the enthusiasm shown and the feel of ‘family’ that our Dance School has always had.
She really meant it when she said that of all the places in the world she visits representing the UKA, she loves coming to us the most and can’t wait to come back. I feel so proud. Thank you so much everyone for all you do and for all your hard work and support.

Doing Medal Tests

Doing Medal Tests improves your dancing and your confidence, there is no doubt about that. It makes you practice and it gives you something to aim for.

All grades are done through my Association, the United Kingdom Alliance (UKA) of Professional Teachers of Dance. The Award you receive (a beautiful Certificate and a Medal) is recognised internationally and the UKA do Medal Tests worldwide.

You have the opportunity of doing Medal Tests in Ballroom, Latin, Modern Sequence, Classical Sequence, Rock 'n' Roll, and Argentine Tango. You can start off with a Pre Bronze Award if you want. This requires only one dance per dance style with a short routine. Or you can start with Bronze where two dances are required again with short straightforward routines. You can then move onto Silver and Gold and higher if you so wish.

When you do your Medal Test, you enter the exam room. You give the examiner your sheet which she will mark as you dance your dances. The only people in the room will be myself, the Examiner and the person playing the music. No one else is allowed to watch.
You will find that each time you glance at the examiner she is just as likely to be scribbling on your mark sheet as watching you. The mark sheet is given to you by me the next day and it will give you the grade you have achieved and some helpful comments and advice from the examiner.

Everyone gets nervous during a Medal Test and the examiner realises this. It doesn't matter if you make a mistake or have to stop, you just remain calm, count yourself in and start again. You won't fail if you stop.

Even though not everyone wishes to do Medal Tests, I generally teach routines in most of the Classes which are suitable if you do want to go ahead. It is a special thing to work towards, and a huge sense of achievement is felt afterwards.
 

Previous

Medal Tests again a great success

Congratulations to all the fantastic dancers who went through their UKA Medal Tests on Saturday 18 January 2020. Everything about the weekend was so well supported including the Workshops and the Social Dance. The weekend takes a lot of organisation and I for one can’t relax for a second; there is so much to think about. It’s well worth it though.

Thank you to everyone who helped make it all such a success. Joan Martin, our Examiner, absolutely loved her time with us. We are so lucky that such an important lady in the Dance World wants to do so much for us. She may be back in August! Watch this space! Our first UKA Social Star Award Dancers Our first UKA Social Star Award Dancers with Joan Martin, Past President, Fellow and Examiner of UKA (centre), Caroline (right) and Steve (left) — (click photo to enlarge)

Weekend with Michael and Lauren a huge success

Our demonstration couple for 2018 were Michael Hemera and Lauren McFarlane Hemera. On Saturday 7 April at Lossiemouth Town Hall they performed a five-Dance Latin Show for us, and they also presented Medals and Certificates to those who did their exams in September 2017. On Sunday morning they lead a couple of Latin workshops.

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Fabulous Medal Tests Weekend

We had this year's Medal Tests on 29 and 30 September, and now they are over, I can think straight again! What a fabulous weekend it was. Joan Martin, our examiner, was just amazing and gave us so much of her time during her stay: a mixture of Medal Tests, Workshops, private lessons, and time spent with me giving me advice on what we need to work on most.

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Amazing Medal Presentation with Richard Still & Morgan Hemphill

I’m slowly coming back down to earth after an amazing weekend with Richard Still and Morgan Hemphill, our 15-times UK Professional Ten Dance Champions, GB European and Worlds Represesentatives. Their Eight-Dance demonstration on Friday evening 21 April was out of this world, and on Saturday morning 22 April they superbly taught us a beautiful Foxtrot.

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Medal Tests a great success

Medal Test Day, Saturday 1 October 2016, was a great success. Congratulations to everyone who did their exams. It was lovely to have Sue Cooper with us as our Examiner for the third time in a row.

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AJ Pritchard & Chloe Hewitt

Big news is that AJ Pritchard and Chloe Hewitt, who demonstrated for us in February 2016 and who lead workshops and presented our Medals, are two of the new 'Strictly Come Dancing' dancers. They deserve every success. Such a highly talented, hard working, switched-on young couple and so down to earth. I’ve sent them a message to say Congratulations and wishing them the very best of luck from all of us.
Check out their website: www.ajchloe.com

In the meantime, follow the link below for the Youtube clip that they created especially for us showing the routines that they taught at our workshops. At the end of the clip there are some photos of us on the demonstration night and at the workshops.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpaYtTikSj8

Medal Presentation Evening with AJ Pritchard & Chloe Hewitt

On Saturday 20 February 2016 we had our Medal Presentation evening at Lossiemouth Town Hall with AJ Pritchard & Chloe Hewitt as our Demonstration Couple. On the Sunday morning they gave two workshops.

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Fastastic Medal Test weekend with Sue Cooper

Medal Tests 2015 We have just had the most fantastic Medal Test weekend. Congratulations to all of you who underwent their Medal Tests in Ballroom, Latin, and Rock 'n' Roll, covering Pre Bronze, Bronze, Silver, Gold and 1st Gold Bar Grades. The results are very impressive and even better than last year, which goes to show how well you are all doing in your dancing and how much I must be improving too as a teacher.

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Medal Presentation Weekend with Ben Taylor & Stefanie Bossen

A huge thank you to everyone who supported our Ben and Stefanie weekend, on 28 February and 1 March. Their demonstration was superb and their talent, skills, elegance, class, personality and stamina shone through. They did all of the 5 Ballroom dances and gave us a superb basic Slow Foxtrot as an encore.

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Medal Tests Weekend with Sue Cooper

What a wonderful Medal Tests weekend we've had on 27 and 28 September! I am over the moon at how well everyone did and at our overall results. I am very very proud of all the Medallists and how hard they have worked.

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Michael Hemera and Lauren McFarlane

Thank you to all of you who supported our Dance Demonstration evening and Workshops, on the weekend of 29 and 30 June. These events are a team effort and there is no way I can do it entirely on my own. It was all a great success, and the feedback I have been receiving has been absolutely amazing.

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Wonderful Weekend with Richard & Morgan

What a wonderful weekend we just had with the amazing Richard Still and Morgan Hemphill, the UK Professional Ten Dance Champions. And what an enthusiastic reception they received from all who attended!

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Successful Event with Richard & Morgan

On Friday 30 March our Dance School hosted the Undefeated UK 10 Dance Champions, Richard Still and Morgan Hemphill, at Lossiemouth Town Hall; our biggest and most successful event yet! Have a look at some photos of the Ten Dance demonstration by this amazing couple.

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Successful 2011 Medal Tests

Seems like ages ago now but I'd just like to let you all know how successful everyone who took their Medal Tests on Saturday 19 March was. Around 80 separate exams were held that day, at both Bronze and Silver standard.

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