PE dance academy crews heading for Sydney festival
MEMBERS from Port Elizabeth’s Finest Dance Academy will be two-stepping and flipping their way to Australia next month when they jet off to Sydney for the World Supremacy Battlegrounds Championship.
Three of the four crews from the academy achieved podium finishes at the National World Supremacy Battlegrounds Championship in Johannesburg last weekend, qualifying them for the international leg taking place from September 9 to 11.
More than 2 000 dancers from six Australian states, the Philippines, New Zealand, Malaysia, Singapore, Guam, Japan, Solomon Islands, South Africa and Canada are expected to attend the annual festivities of Australia’s biggest street dance competition.
The 17 members of the three crews will each have to raise about R25 000 for the trip.
The academy’s lead choreographer, Junior Ferreira, 20, said he believed the growth of the dance group and its popularity was directly attributed to the socio-economic situation of the dancers.
“These dancers aren’t rich, they do this because of the passion they have for dance,” he said.
“Dance practice provides them with a distraction and an escape from the reality of their lives.
“Sometimes we hear of how the friends of these dancers were shot while they were at practice, so they really give their all to dancing because they believe it can change the direction of their lives,” Ferreira said.
The academy was started in 2009 by Ferreira’s mother, Marian, after she recognised her son’s potential as a dancer.
She went on to invite other talented youngsters from the northern areas to form part of the dance crew.
Since the crew’s inception, Marian has offered up the living room of her Salsoneville home for practice sessions.
“Our choreographers, Junior and Kaashiefa [Plaatjies], are only 20 years old and give all their free time to working with these kids,” she said.
“I believe in what they are doing because I see the difference it is making.
“On Saturday’s workshops are normally full but the kids and parents will attend every week even if it is just to watch.”
Salsoneville resident Dillion Domingo, 21, said: “Joining this dance crew literally saved my life.
“Before dancing I was a rapper and I was starting to get involved in gangsterism but Junior found me and asked me to join the crew.
“That decision changed the course of my life. Now we are preparing to go to Australia and definitely return home with money, a growing reputation and the medals to prove it.”
Potential sponsors can reach Ferreira on 083-509-6856.