Sep 18 – Urban Dance Win Gold And Silver At European Dance Finals
Urban Dance have achieved top places in the “Live Your Dreams” European Dance Finals Competition held on the 9th and 10th September at the Palais de Congres in Paris, France.
Urban Dance competed with other finalists from Spain, Portugal, UK, France, Belgium, Ukraine and other countries during the two day competition. The judging panel included professionals from England, Spain, France, Argentina and Puerto Rico.
Over 2,500 dancers and nearly 70 teams competed in the three categories of Street Dance, Open Style and Flamenco. The overall results for Urban Dance, Gibraltar were:
Open Style
Adult/Junior Solo - 1st Place
Dancer: Jerome Celecia Choreography: Yalta Pons
Adult Group - 2nd Place Dancers: Yalta Pons, Giovanca Afzan, Dalissa Sampere, Nando Perez, Megan Finlayson, Janice Sampere, Jerome Celecia, Susan Traverso, Javan Robertson and Zyanne Rios
Choreography: Yalta Pons
Junior Duet - 6th Place Dancers: Jerome Celecia & Suzi Traverso Choreography: Yalta Pons
Street Dance
Children Solo - 4th Place Dancer: Zyanne Rios Choreography: Yalta Pons
Adult Duet - 4th Place Dancers: Giovanka Afzan & Nando Perez Choreography: Giovanka Afzan & Nando Perez
Adult Group - 5th Place Dancers: Yalta Pons, Giovanca Afzan, Dalissa Sampere, Nando Perez, Megan Finlayson, Jerome Celecia, Susan Traverso, Javan Robertson and Zyanne Rios
Choreography: Yalta Pons
Principal Choreographer Yalta Pons and Team Director Darion Figueredo said they were proud of the success achieved in this European Final:
“There was a very high standard of dance and I am very proud of the team, the have put in a lot of hard work and commitment and the results are amazing” said Yalta Pons, adding “this is the icing on the cake for us as we have been very busy this past year and wanted to follow on from our success at the Dance World Cup in Jersey last year, its a great moment when you can humbly boast that we were World Champions in 2016 and now European Champion in 2017!”
Yalta added: “The Allin Crew who won the the 1st Place are the previous World Hip Hop Champions and finalists in various competitions including Britain’s Got Talent, they put on a great performance and their win was well deserved. It’s been great to share the stage with such talented world-class performers”
Yalta also wished to thank all the dancers for their hard work and commitment and to family and carers for their continued support.
Darion Figueredo commented: “It has been a wonderful experience and I am extremely proud of the team and all dancers, it was a hectic two days with early starts to the day, commuting, quick costume changes between performances, keeping focused at all times and being able to deliver their best performances was challenging. The results are fantastic as it was a tough competition, all the finalists competing had been previous winners in other competitions leading up to this grand final. Once again we have placed Gibraltar in top podium positions against larger European nations and it was a double celebration as we performed on our National Day!”
Urban Dance say they are once again grateful to the Ministry of Culture, the Cultural Grants Committee and the Gibraltar Cultural Services for their support and to their main sponsor the Bland Group International (Blands Travel, OSG, The Rock Hotel, Travel Link, Calpe Lounge, Avis/Budget, GibAir and Wavetecx)
They also thanked the Laguna Social Club for hosting their fundraising events and to individual sponsors MH Bland, Gibraltar Jujitsu Academy and the Hybrid MMA Team.
{fcomment}
