If winning a gold, silver or bronze medal means that one has achieved the pinnacle of excellence, what does it mean when you win all three?
Dancers Kayleigh Badger, 10, and Olivia Tucker, 11, from Miss Jennie’s Performing Arts Studio in Innisfil know. Their ensembles won a gold, silver and bronze medal at the Dance World Cup (DWC) — which is known as the Olympics of Dance — in Prague, Czech Republic, which took place from June 27 to July 6. More than 9,500 dancers gathered from 66 countries to compete.
Kayleigh and Olivia competed in the DWC for the second consecutive year as members of World Performers Canada.
“(The) team won so many medals. We won a bronze for contemporary, a silver for jazz and a gold for tap,” Kayleigh said.
She competed in acro, jazz, contemporary, hip hop, tap, ballet and show dance numbers.
“I loved my tap large group because it was so high-energy and fun to perform," Kayleigh said. "We didn’t know it would get a gold medal before we left to compete it and we already loved it.”
This year’s Canadian team had 202 members from across the country. Miss Jennie’s co-owner Kate Badger said each of the medal-winning teams included between 20 and 30 10- to 13-year-old dancers from Ontario.
“I am so grateful for the opportunity to compete on behalf of the Canadian team ... and I thank World Performers Canada for providing me with this opportunity to see the world and share the language of dance with other countries,” said Olivia, who competed in jazz, acro, tap, ballet, contemporary and lyrical routines.
“My favourite routine was my solo because it (was) my first solo at the World Cup and I really enjoyed the choreography, the costume and the music,” she said.
In addition to winning three medals, Kayleigh and Olivia were among the runners-up to winning the World Dance Cup.
“The ‘cup’ is a final award chosen by the chairman and judges,” Kate said. “If you win a gold medal, the chairman might pick your routine to perform again at the gala which puts you in the running for the cup. There were only a few large groups he chose to dance for the cup and the tap group was a close runner-up for the final award. Of all of the gold medal groups, only the tap from Canada, a jazz (ensemble) from England and an acro from Portugal danced for the cup.”
Kayleigh and Olivia enjoyed seeing all their fellow dancers during the Parade of Nations.
“We all lined up by country to walk through Old Town Prague together waving flags of our countries. We got pictures with dancers from other countries and traded flags, pins and small gifts,” Kayleigh said.
“It was very exciting and I love listening to all the national anthems. It was very inspiring,” added Olivia.
Both dancers from Innisfil enjoyed visiting the Charles Bridge in Prague, which includes a wishing spot.
“We visited it three times,” Olivia said. “It was really interesting to learn about the history of the bridge and all of the amazing buildings surrounding it. I love learning about the history of different cities through travel and dance. I am very grateful to my family for taking this adventure with me for the second year in a row and look forward to future trips."
“We did a walking tour that included Prague Castle and the Charles Bridge which were both my favourite things to see,” Kayleigh said. “We made wishes on the Charles Bridge together.”
“It was really special to finally get to watch the girls — Kayleigh and Olivia — perform with their team,” Miss Jennie's co-owner Jennie Chapman said. “We woke up between 2 (and) 4 a.m. Eastern (Time) to watch them perform and were blown away by how amazing their routines were after only six rehearsals through the year. A very impressive showing for the team.”
Learn more about Miss Jennie’s by visiting its website.
