At the age of 13, Jade ‘Jadey Vee’ Veretnik is a force to be reckoned with and has achieved much more than most of her peers.
As her mother Michelle Veretnik stated it, the young dancer was born late into a family with grown-up siblings. This meant that she had to entertain herself from the age of seven. She spent most of her free time watching YouTube tutorials on how to do perform dance tricks.
At the time, all she wanted was to dance and in the process became very agile while practising what she watched. When she turned eight, she decided to try out dancing with her best friend who attended hip-hop classes at Kezone Dance. “Needless to say, she fell in love and never left – throwing her whole heart into her lessons,” said her mother Michelle.
Jade swiftly developed a keen interest in the dance fraternity and began to follow in her role model Kerryn Stow’s footsteps in the dance world.
Stow runs Kezone, a local dance company based in Edenglen which is affiliated with the South African Body of Dance (Sabod) and Dance Masters South Africa.
Since then, Jade has competed for several local competitions including Battle of the Giants in contemporary and hip-hop, solos, duos and group. For the American Dance Awards, their team acquired gold (90 per cent and higher) for the hip-hop group and qualified for Orlando in Florida in July next year. Jade is busy with level three and four exams with the Sabod.
Last year, Jade competed for her regional and South African colours in contemporary and hip-hop dancing, through Dance Masters of South Africa, which took her all the way to Spain to represent the country. Jade and her team triumphed and secured first, second and third positions respectively. Jade and her team have also qualified to represent South Africa in New Zealand in July next year.
In September this year, she acquired her South African Colours for the third year in a row.
She is currently the head girl of Linksfield Primary School and participates in as many extra murals as she can when her free time allows.
She is also a swimmer for the school team, sings in the choir and received half colours for soccer.
“Jade loves life, school and her company is enjoyed amongst her peers. Next year for Grade 8, she will be attending Reddam House, where they offer dancing as a subject. She is extremely excited about all the dancing she is exposed to and hopes to achieve very high standards in her dancing career,” her mother concluded.
Related Article:
https://northeasterntribune.co.za/202408/reddam-house-preparatory-school-through-to-the-danone-nations-cup-gauteng-provincial-finals/
