North Shore Times (New Zealand)
Self-taught dancer wins gold
When he was a toddler, Ethan Scharneck watched a Michael Jackson video. He hasn’t stopped dancing since.
The 13-year-old has won two gold medals and two silver medals in the World Championships of Performing Arts with his Michael Jackson-inspired routines.
The world championship, held in California, saw singers, actors, dancers, models and musicians from more than 50 countries compete against each other.
Ethan won gold for his hip hop/funk and open dance performances, and silver in the jazz dance, and song and dance, categories. The Oteha resident is a self-taught dancer, and says he started after his father borrowed a Michael Jackson video tape.
‘‘I would just go through all the moves. I would watch it over and over. I was going crazy.’’
Ethan only took up singing at the start of the year.
‘‘When I first went for singing lessons I was out of tune, out of key and out of time, but my singing teacher was very encouraging,’’ he says.
The City Impact Church School student says he loves the stage and enjoyed meeting people from all over the world and he still keeps in touch with them.
He says meeting other South Africans made him feel at home, as he emigrated when he was 3.
He wants to take up acting, star in a dance movie and open his own studio in the future.