Seychelles dancers excel at World Dance Championship in Greece |12 July 2023

The accompanying photo shows members of the Artistic Dance Factory Seychelles.

Twenty children and three adults from Seychelles went head-to-head with everyday European champions in a two-day championship in June 2023 that took place in Athens, Greece.

Artistic Dance Factory Seychelles(ADF Seychelles) had 12 children and 3 adults, while Heartbeat Dance Studio had eight children. ADF dancers secured four golds and one silver for the solo mini kids category (7-8 years old).

They also clinched one gold, one silver and one bronze for solo juveniles (8-11 years old).

Three gold, five silver and six bronze for masters (35 and over).

Two gold was for student teacher mini kids, while one gold and two bronze went to the juveniles’ student teacher category.

What was equally impressive was that the juvenile and junior (12-15 years old) dancers made it to the semi-finals and top 6 finalists among 20-40 competitors.

The 2023 event was the first time Seychelles participated with Seychellois dancers’ representation in Ballroom and Latin, solos, duos and student and teachers.

The managing director of the ADF Seychelles, Dr Lucia Banane, stated that “our achievement is not only due to the fact that we brought home medals and trophies in several disciplines, but because we were called back to preceding rounds despite the many competitors”.

She added that the 12 kids and the three masters put in a lot of work in their practice and their main focus were techniques because these are what the judges look for.

“We are overwhelmed with the amount of support we have received from the government, private businesses and individuals to make it possible for the team to travel to Greece,” she stated.

She went on to express her gratitude to the Children Special Fund, the Seychelles National Arts and Crafts Council, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Sacos, H Savy Insurance, Absa Seychelles, Jo’s Cake bites, and special private individuals.

Tiny Lindiwe Wazime, director of Heartbeat Dance Studio and trainer of the students, stated in an interview that the competition was one of those experiences that she classified as “amazing!”

“An opportunity like this is not easy, especially when you are travelling to Europe, it is quite expensive. However, we managed to go, through our sponsors and everything.”

She stated there was supposed to be nine kids originally but they dropped out on the day of travel, leaving eight. 

The gold medals for formation of the urban street dance category were as follows: Vanessa Ferley, Emelyn Getrude, Elitah Wazim, Eliah Mathiot, Tsiory Guichaud, Emelyah Harrison, Barryna Valentine, Elkisha Pauline.

Ms Wazime said the competition was very tough but the kids managed to go through the first level to the second level and it was Vanessa Ferley who was the strongest competitor, becoming the only one that managed to go through to the finals.

“She was representing really well because she was the only one who managed to go to the finals in most of the dances.”

The World Championship Athens is an annual competition organised by the World Artistic Dance Federation (WADF) together with the Dance Club, the Mall of Dance Studio Athens, a prominent dance studio in Greece. It attracts dancers from namely, England, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Turkey, Hungary, Macedonia, Belgium, Poland and Greece.

Meanwhile, Seychelles plans to host an All African Artistic Dance Championship, which will incorporate the Africans continent’s traditional dances. This will be done with the assistance of the WADF.

“It will become an annual event for the next three years and will attract a large scale of people around the world. Given the significant nature of this event, which is also a first of its kind, senior members of the WADF, the President Sir Nils-Hakan Carlzon, a Swedish legend in the field of artistic dance, together with two other vice-presidents of WADF, will be in Seychelles to manage championship,” said Ms Wazime.

She said that having been in Greece will open doors for many other dancers and studios in Seychelles especially since it will entice the foreign judges and competitors to come to Seychelles to join them in the Seychelles arena.

Sunny Esparon

Photos contributed