Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
DanceStar Aiden brings the title home
SLOW clap for the people of Grassy Park. Aiden Kaylor, 15, has done you proud.
The youngster has danced his way to a world championship title. Out of 7 000 dancers from 17 countries, Aiden came out tops at the global competition in Croatia.
Aiden is a Grade 10 pupil at Bergvliet High School, and he has an interesting back story. He began dancing about five years ago at the Jodie Jackson Dance Centre in Lotus River. He’s been a regular feature at local contests.
Every year he has participated in the Battle of the Giants in Sun City. He finished in second place at the event last year.
This year he set his sights even higher. Aiden wanted to perform on the world stage.
He entered the DanceStar competition held in Croatia. The rest, as they say, is history. Aiden secured a starring role in the DanceStar music video during competition week.
He then qualified for Urban Dance (hip hop) League A and cruised into the final of the tournament.
Aiden’s mother, Glynis Kaylor, also made the trip to Croatia. She is immensely proud of his achievement.
“These past few months have been a lot of hard work; training, rehearsing and all that.
“When they announced him as the winner, he didn’t even hear his name being called. When he saw the people in third and second place, he didn’t think he’d made it.
“We had to push him out onto the stage when they announced him as the winner.
“I’m very proud of myself because a lot of work went into it, but I don’t think the fact that I came in first has kicked in yet,” he said.
On the question of whether professional dancing as a career featured in his future plans, Aiden said: “While I am passionate about dancing, I am not planning to make a fulltime career out of it.
“I still want a job in another field but I would still want to do dancing,” he said.