Ten Campbell River dance students will take on the world this fall when they travel to Denmark to compete in the largest and most prestigious of all dance competitions – the World Dance Championships.
Caelan Ostrosser, Kaylin Bohmer, Rianna Ostrosser, Bethany Richards, Keely Finn, Taylor Ring, Cohan Caflisch, Eberle Caflisch, Emiko Koizumi, and Sylvain Barbot, all students at CR DanceXtreme, will join fellow Team Canada dancers from Oct. 17-21 to compete in Denmark. Another CRX student, Dharma Knudson, from Courtenay, also made the team. CR DanceXtreme owners Shawna Sloan and Buddy Mynatt said they are delighted to have their students represent Canada again at this world event.
“We are so thrilled and proud,” Mynatt said. “This is the third time CR DanceXtreme dancers have made this team and it’s a testament to our dancers’ hard work and commitment.”
In 2015, in Italy, Ring won the silver medal with the junior team (out of 39 teams), Cohan Caflisch won the bronze with the children’s team (out of 15 teams) and the senior team placed fourth (out of 36 teams). Koizumi placed fourth with the junior team (out of 25 teams) in 2014 in Germany.
The International Dance Organization has over 250,000 member dancers from six continents. The world championship format is Olympic-style with only one gold, silver and bronze being presented on the podium with the world champions’ national anthem being played as the top three medalist flags are raised.
Team Canada Dance National Director Bonnie Dyer said that Canada has been quite successful in all dance disciplines at the World Championships and this is mainly due to the high standard of training that local studios offer. The head coach and lead choreographer of the team is Paul Otterbein. More information on Team Canada Dance can be found at, www.teamcanadadance.com
The honour of being a Team Canada member comes due to a lot of hard work and dedication. Not only are these dancers training and practicing for many hours each week, many of the practices require travel off the Island. The dancers are looking for sponsors and will be holding some fundraising events in the community.
CR DanceXtreme hopes the community will help support these young people that will proudly represent the community as well as our country at the World Championships.
Donations to support the dancers and additional information about fundraising can be found on the group’s website www.hiphop2017.ca