The Dance World Cup is the biggest dance competition in the world
Event due to take place 2–10 July 2021 in Burgos, Spain
We are so proud to have qualified for the Dance World Cup Finals for the first time with an incredible ten entries. The full story has been covered by the Shoreham & Worthing Herald, The Argus and Shoreham-by-sea's Beach News.
Our Competition Team director Lucy Brooks was interviewed with two of our senior dancers Lola and Annika by ITV News, and the full video report aired live on Friday 5 March. You can watch the full story, featuring lots of our amazing dancers on ITV Meridian.
The Dance World Cup (DWC) is the greatest all-genre dance competition in the world, with over 120,000 competitors from 62 countries competing at their country qualifiers and the DWC Finals each year. The event itself is also live-streamed to global audiences on all devices.
BDA will be taking 30 pupils aged nine to 17 as part of Team England to the Finals in Burgos, Spain, this summer, competing in the Children's section (13 years and under) and the Junior section (17 years and under).
Dancers were selected after submitting video entries to the Team UK official qualifier heat for Team England, Team Scotland, Team Wales and Team Northern Ireland. A panel of judges selected ten BDA dances after they placed in the top three in each of their categories across England, with the most entered category having a whopping 106 entries! DWC UK patrons include some of the industry's biggest names: West End choreographer and former Strictly Come Dancing judge Arlene Phillips, world-famous ballet dancer Wayne Sleep and Debbie Moore, founder of Pineapple Dance Studios.
In the Children's section, BDA will represent Team England in Contemporary Large Group, Jazz Large Group, and Jazz and Show Dance Small Group (two entries). In the Junior section, BDA has four further entries: Contemporary Large Group and Small Group; and Lyrical Large Group and Small Group.
Two BDA dancers – Heidi Ogden, who attends Shoreham Academy and Matilda Paul from Steyning Grammar School (both aged 13) – have also been selected to compete with their lyrical duet, Keeping Your Head Up, choreographed by Lucy Brooks, assistant director of BDA. Heidi again wowed the judges and secured a spot at the Finals in the Solo Ballet Pointe Repertoire (age 12–13 only) category. Jackie Brooks, principal of BDA, will teach Heidi her solo piece.
Lucy Brooks, the team's director and choreographer, said:
"I'm so proud of the team and excited to get back to the studio with our dancers and start preparing! In March 2020, we had just completed our most successful competition season ever, and then COVID-19 hit. Subsequently, all the national events we qualified for were cancelled, and all of our classes moved online.
"I've been so impressed at the resilience of our dancers over this time. The students have missed out on so much over the last year, and it's so important to have a goal to look forward to and keep them motivated. I know the dancers are ready to give their best performance yet!
Jackie Brooks, principal of the school, said:
"I'm thrilled the judges have recognised the talents of our competitive team. After a difficult year for the school and constantly adapting to new measures, our selection for this event has been a real boost to our dancers, teachers and families. I can't wait to see our students on stage again soon."
Over the coming weeks and months, BDA and their dancers will be embarking on fundraising activities to cover entry fees, membership fees and costumes for this illustrious event. Sponsorship packages will also be available. Email lucybrooks@outlook.com for more info about sponsoring our team.
More information about the Dance World Cup is available on their website: www.dwcworld.com