DANCERS from Ards are off to Prague this summer to compete in the Dance World Cup.
Ards Dance Company and Excel Dance Company are sending dancers, aged between seven and 19 to the June event to compete in a range of subjects.
Ards Dance Company are competing in the jazz, street dance, ballet and lyrical sections of the competition with Excel representing in the acrobatics, lyrical, show dance and jazz, musical theatre and street dance.
Ruth Cobb, one of the teachers at Ards Dance Company, explained that the school won Best Young Team in the qualifying rounds.
“Some of the girls are entering as soloists, some are doing duets, trios, quads, and then we have six large groups going,” she said.
“Most of the girls train four days a week at the studio, it’s their second home to be honest. We’re so excited as this group of girls have been my first set of babies that I ever taught and I taught most of them from when they were three years old.
“It’s always been something they’ve wanted to do and we bit the bullet this year and entered. They have put the work in and they are a good group of ladies.”
Qualification for the Dance World Cup was in December 2023 and took place via video submission in which a judge scores all the entries and ranks them.
Vikki Scates, mum of one dancers who is heading over to Prague this summer, said the results of the qualifier came out recently with some of the girls’ solos being ranked first in the country.
“Apart from being passionate about all things dance they’re all super excited and celebrating as this is such an incredible opportunity to have successfully auditioned to compete at world class level,” she said.
“Such an experience they’ll have, from the actual dancing and competition to the culture and seeing somewhere new.
“Not forgetting proudly travelling in their new Team NI tracksuits representing their country will be such a privilege.”
Brooke Porter, from the Excel Dance Company, said this will be their fourth year going to the competition.
“Each year varies on numbers,” she said. “The first year we had about 40 children who went and after Covid for the past couple of years, we’ve had soloists go independently,” she said.
“This year we have 11 children going to represent the school and Team NI, in soloists, duets, trios and small teams. We’re hoping to rebuild the entries again now things are back to normal.
We’ve qualified in different subjects. We’ve girls representing in acrobatics, lyrical, show dance and jazz, musical theatre and street dance.
“We’re very very excited, it’s the biggest dance competition in the world. The standard is extremely high, it would be the highest standard of any competition in the whole world.
“We’re very excited but we realise the standard is very high and the girls will have to do a lot of training to be successful.”
In previous years, the school has won medals and to win a ‘medal at the Dance World Cup is fabulous’.
“Last year we had a soloist who got a silver medal, a second place medal and the year before that she got a bronze,” said Brooke.
“The first year we all went together and had a team who won bronze as well. We have won medals before so that’s what we’ll be striving towards this year. We’re very proud of the girls and we realise how much work needs to go into it as well.”
The dancers train 5-6 days a week although they are in full time education so they are in the studio every day after school.
“That’s alongside what we would usually do with them, like their dance exams and their preparation for local competitions and completion through Northern Ireland,” said Brooke.
“So they will be training for the Dance World Cup on top of their normal training. The girls are very excited, there’s three of this bunch who have been before, so it’s a new experience for the rest of them.”
The Dance World Cup begins on June 27 and finishes on July 6 with 120,000 competitors, from ages four to 25 with only 8,000 going through to the finals.
Over 60 countries will be represented over the nine day competition, from qualifying to finals.
Brooke said they are still on the look out for sponsorship as it’s a ‘big financial commitment for parents and children’.
“We’re delighted to attend as we represent Excel Dance Company but also the whole team from Northern Ireland. It’ll be great for the girls but we’ve a lot of work to do over the next four or five months. It’s a huge commitment.
“We’re asking if people want to come on board to sponsor entry fees or tracksuits or different bits and pieces.”
If anyone would like to sponsor the group, contact Brooke on exceldancecompany@gmail.com or 07515746020.
