Tipperary dance school qualifies for Dance World Cup as part of Team Ireland
The dance school based in Clonmel are celebrating after hearing the news that they will get to take part in this year's 'Dance World Cup'.
Students from Clonmel-based dance school AOK-DANCE have qualified for this summer’s Dance World Cup as part of Team Ireland.
The Dance World Cup takes place every summer, and this year it comes to Ireland, taking place in the Convention Centre, Dublin over the course of 11 days in July.
The competition involves over 9,500 dancers from 74 different countries. It is often referred to as the "Olympics of Dance", with each country having only five spots available per age group and category.
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This April, the Irish qualifiers took place over four days, in an extremely tough event, with over a thousand entries from around the country competing for the limited number of spots in the World Cup.
Even being part of the qualifiers was an achievement in itself, as lots of entries had to go through video auditions just to make it as far as the qualifiers.
A group of 21 students from AOK-DANCE competed in these qualifiers, in the hope of reaching the world stage to represent Ireland.
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Amazingly, all of these students qualified in 11 different categories. These include 4 teams (3 lyrical, 1 commercial), 3 duets (1 lyrical, 1 contemporary, 1 acro), and 4 solos (2 ballet, 1 lyrical, 1 acro).
The students are honoured to be part of Team Ireland representing our country, and are lost for words to be part of something so big, which really is a dream come true for these 21 students.
AOK-DANCE is based in Clonmel, and specialises in ballet, contemporary dance, lyrical dance and contemporary ballet.
The school is owned and run by Aoife O'Keeffe, and has been running since 2015, and has enjoyed huge success and growth in that time.
The students and Aoife are very much looking forward to competing at the Dance World Cup and being part of Team Ireland, making memories to last a lifetime, and hoping to make Clonmel proud.
More information about the dance school can be found at www.aok-dance.com
Caption:
Back row
Rachel Walsh, Sophie McEvoy, Alice MacRaith, Kyle Doyle, Michaela Fahy, Nylah Sutton, Lily Mae O'Halloran Casey
Middle row
Kaci O'Shea, Aoife Kingston, Gracie O'Dwyer, April Hallinan, Sarah O'Reilly, Lena Jaworska, Amy Lonergan
Front row
Kate Murphy, Lucy Corcoran, Sadie O'Dwyer, Grace Fahey, Ella Kiely, Katie O'Dwyer, Tara Lonergan