Gibraltar achieves the silver medal at the World Showdance Championships

The Gibraltar National Dance Team recently attended the World Show Dance Championships which were held in the famous Erdgas Arena in Riesa, Germany, during the 23rd to the 29th November. Over 2.600 dancers from 30 nations competed at this event, making the World Show Dance Championships in Riesa one of the biggest dancing competitions of the world.

The level of dance was even higher than last year and more than 11,000 spectators followed the competition in the hall, with 3,300 witnessing the finals on Saturday. This year the competition was also televised by live stream and this attracted more than 200,000 visitors form around the world.

The team consisting of 30 dancers attended these Championships led by the GNDO committee and experienced local choreographers.

The competition began with the children category. Within this section Gibraltar had three solos, two duets and one group piece.

First to dance were the soloists: Janice Felices with her piece "Blah blah blah blah cha cha cha", Joelle Davis with "The dancing lion of Madagascar" and Chelsey Celecia with "There are no cats in America!" All dancers danced beautifully with Janice and Joelle qualifying into the quarterfinals in a section with 38 dancers. The 1st position went to Slovenia, 2nd to Bosnia and Herzegovina and 3rd to Slovenia.

Meanwhile in the children duets section the two duets participated with professionalism in a section with 33 entries. Jenella Sodi and Joelle Davis danced their piece "Nemo and Dory" choreographed by Gerald Rodriguez and Sabrina Durell and Janice Felices and Seleen Celecia danced their "Ease on down the road" choreographed by Jade Federico. The two duets performed greatly and qualified into the quarter finals, semi finals and then the finals. All the Gibraltar team was ecstatic as we had managed to place both duets into a final! On the finals night both duets gave a fantastic performance with Joelle and Jenella finishing in 2nd and Janice and Seleen in 4th position! The two dance pieces proved to be very popular amongst the audience and judges. This section was won by Russia; Gibraltar came in 2nd and Slovenia came 3rd.

In the group category Gibraltar was represented by a piece entitled "Witches' spell". The dancers were- Chelsey Celecia, Seleen Celecia, Joelle Davis, Janice Felices, Amy Pozo, Paula Rugeroni and Jenella Sodi. All the girls danced with enthusiasm and professionalism and qualified into the semi finals in a section with 26 entries. They managed to achieve 9th position. The 1st and 2nd positions went to Slovenia, and 3rd to Russia.

The following section was the junior category. In the solo female section we were represented by Nicole Victor, Ileana Martinez and Kaedi Navarro. The three girls performed beautifully within a very tough section of 49 entries. Nicole danced her piece, "Dancing flame", Ileana danced her piece entitled "Transformation", and Kaedi danced her piece "La Amistad: a slave's journey to freedom". All girls danced beautifully but only Nicole was qualified into the next round where she achieved a respectable 17th position. This section was won by Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1st and Slovenia in 2nd and 3rd position.

In the junior duets section Gibraltar was represented by Chloe and Emma Vaughan who performed a piece entitled "The rose", by Nicole Victor and Kayleigh Halmshaw who danced a piece entitled "Hide and Seek" and by Anna Zammitt and Zayda Torres who danced their piece "Dot com". The three duets qualified into the quarter finals with Emma and Chloe also qualifying into the semis. This turned out to be an unlucky night for Emma and Chloe who were unable to qualify into the finals with only five couples making it through. They managed to achieve 6th position in a section with 39 entries which normally would have qualified them into the finals. This section was won by Croatia, 2nd position going to Russia and 3rd to Bosnia and Herzegovina.

. In the junior group section Gibraltar was represented by a piece entitled "White butterflies". The dancers forming this group piece were Kayleigh Halmshaw, Ileana Martinez, Zayda Torres, Chloe Vaughan, Emma Vaughan, Nicole Victor and Anna Zammitt. The group performed beautifully in a section with 34 entries. This section was won by Czech Republic in 1st, Russia in 2nd and Slovenia in 3rd.

The following day it was the turn for the adults. In the solo female category Nicola Dewar danced her piece entitled "Dance with my father again", Dulcie Edwards danced her piece "Unsocial expectations" and Chantal Santos her piece "Silent all these years". All performed beautifully but were unable to qualify into the next round in a section with 52 entries. The section was won by Slovenia, followed by Russia and third by Slovenia.

In the solo male section Tyron Walker danced his piece "Canvas of love" and Nigel Usquieri his piece "Bandolero's torment" in a section with 25 entries. Tyron qualified into the semi finals and managed to finish in 12th position. This section was won by Italy, followed by Poland and third by Italy.

In the adult duets section Gibraltar had three entries. Steven Pardo and Chantal Santos with their piece "The awakening"; Tyron Walker and Nicola Dewar with "Lost in your arms" and Angelique Ruiz and Stacey Yusifredo with "On my own". Both Steven and Chantal and Tyron and Nicola qualified into the quarter finals. Steven and Chantal then went on to achieve their dream by qualifying into the semis and then into the finals with their piece choreographed by Zuleika Green.. They were both ecstatic as this would be their first time dancing in the finals! They achieved 7th position in a section with 39 entries with their piece proving very popular amongst the audience. This section had a total of 47 entries with Poland coming 1st, Germany 2nd and Czech Republic 3rd.

In the adult group piece Gibraltar had two entries. One was "Welcome to MY mind" formed by dancers Nicola Dewar, Danielle Perez, Angelique Ruiz, Nigel Usquieri, Tyrone Walker and Stacey Yusifredo; the other entry was "Zouglu tribe" formed by dancers Genesis Bonavia, Kyreen Edwards, Jodie Garcia, Ali Guiling, Francesca Morillo and Sinead Pincho. This section had a total of 40 entries and was won by Poland, 2nd position went to USA and 3rd to Slovenia.

All in all it was a wonderful year for the GNDO. The hard work involved throughout the year in all the preparations for these Championships is extremely gratifying especially after obtaining so many good results. The hard working GNDO committee consists of President Michael Prescott and Executive Secretary Deirdre Prescott.

Sabrina Durell, Dulcie Edwards, Jade Federico, Anne Marie Gomez, Zuleika Green, Nichol Montovio and Gerald Rodriguez were responsible for choreographing the dance pieces which represented us in Germany. The commitment of all the dancers and choreographers alike comes to show that with dedication and perseverance everything is possible.

The GNDO would like to thank everyone who has made this trip possible. To the Ministry of Culture, for their continuous support. To all their sponsors for placing their trust in them. To all the parents, partners or friends who supported the dancers in Riesa. And to anyone who has helped them in any way.

The GNDO is now busy preparing their schedule for next year to represent Gibraltar again at International events.

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