County of Newell youth to represent Team Canada Dance
A County of Newell dancer, Harrison Gietz, has auditioned and been accepted to be a part of the largest and most prestigious dance team in all of Canada which will attend the IDO World Tap Championships in Riesa Germany, this November 26-30.
There are two groups of dancers representing Canada, one from Ontario and Gietz being the other.
Selected to represent Canada this year was Gietz, who goes to the Rhythmic Soles Dance Academy (RSDA) in Brooks. Harrison has taken dance lessons at RSDA in a wide variety of styles for the past nine years, and is graduating from the studio this spring before he takes on the championships in November.
The International Dance Organization (IDO) has over 250,000 member dancers from 6 continents. This exciting world championship is considered the “Olympics of Dance”, with only one Gold, Silver, and Bronze medal awarded for each division. The top three medalists stand proudly on the podium as their flags are raised and the winning National Anthem is played. It is incredibly emotional to see their hard work rewarded in such a fashion!
The National Director of Team Canada Dance, Bonnie Dyer, comments “Canada has been quite successful in all dance disciplines at the World Championships and this is mainly due to the high standards of training that our local studios offer”. She continues, “It is also great to see the ‘best of the best’ in Canada, dancers from various studios, towns and provinces coming together onto one team with one goal – to represent Canada.”
While many people are relaxing this summer, our very talented youth gladly spend their holidays and weekends to train for this exciting opportunity. Despite support from other countries around the globe for their dancers, here in Canada there is no government assistance for Team Canada Dance, so each member must raise their own funds to attend the competitions.
The IDO is a member of The Association for International Sport for All (TAFISA) and also a contracted partner of EUSA that is associative partner with FISU.
On the website www.ido-dance.com you will find more information on Dance Sport. The IDO National member organizations that are recognized by the National Olympic Committees in Europe receive yearly money grants for every solo and duo/couple who place Gold, Silver and Bronze in the Adult categories at the IDO World Championships. Dancers who compete from Europe are also entitled to governmental money grants, scholarships, paid health insurance, physiotherapists, and body conditioning classes.
It is unfortunate that Canada still does not recognize our dancers as the athletes they are when they compete at world level competitions. These athletes train for many hours per day, some up to 7 days a week! Dancers must fundraise and seek sponsorship on their own to cover the cost to attend these competitions. In the upcoming months, Harrison will be seeking sponsorship from local businesses in the Brooks area.
We hope that the Brooks region will help support Harrison as he proudly represents your community as well as Canada at the World Championships.