Podium place for dancers
With an international title under their belt, a pair of young dancers is focusing on what lies ahead.
Ondine Payne, 12, and Connor Rice, 14, have returned home from the WDC AL Luna Park Ballroom Dancing Championships in Sydney, Australia, with a gold medal win.
The pair train at Albany’s Limelight Studio on Auckland’s North Shore and competed in the junior categories of ballroom, Latin American and new vogue dancing, alongside other couples from their studio.
After maneuvering through packed dance floors, Ondine and Connor won the new vogue section.
They narrowly missed the finals for the other two.
‘‘Our first goal was to get into the finals, which we managed to do, and our second goal was to get a podium placing and we managed to get that,’’ Ondine says.
‘‘I was pretty confident, that was the best I’ve danced in a while, but I didn’t really expect we would come first.
‘‘I was really happy.’’
Now, they are hoping for similar success when it comes to the New Zealand Open Dance Championships in October.
‘‘We really want to collect more hardware,’’ Ondine says.
‘‘We’re working on the things we didn’t do right in Sydney and the things that would have impacted on us missing out on the finals.’’
‘‘That was the best I've danced in a while, but I didn't really expect we would come first. I was really happy.’’ Ondine Payne