Dubbo dancing brother and sister team Joel Tongue and Cassandra Donnelly have come home with great results after competing in the World Dance Council Ballroom Championships in Sydney recently.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The dancing duo were awarded second place in the Adult B grade New Vogue section at the Championships and said at first they were a little shocked to have received the score.
“We were a little shocked. But it felt amazing. We were so happy to have made it through the rounds to the final but to be placed second was just icing on the cake, we were super happy,” they both said.
This is not the first time the duo have competed at the Championships, which has been held in Australia by the World Dance Council for 5 years.
The duo trained very hard in the lead up to the Championships.
Although two years ago they had to watch on as Joel was injured.
“But it is our most favourite competition of the year as all the best couples and most prestigious adjudicators are there and the atmosphere of dancing in the Big Top at Luna Park just cant be beaten,” Cassandra and Joel said.
“We were also so lucky to have so much support on Saturday we had 18 people from Dubbo come to cheer us on! It was the best.”
Their mother, Kim, is their main teacher and they said that she helped get them to where they are now.
“But we have also been having lessons with New Vogue teacher Brad Dawes from Sydney and Jarryd Byrnes off the TV show Dancing with the Stars for our Latin and we actually went down to Sydney early Friday morning and had 6 hours worth of lessons Friday afternoon with them in preparation for the championship,” the said.
From 21 couples Cassandra and Joel then placed sixth in the Adult Open New Vogue section at the Championships.
“We were so extremely excited to have made the Adult Open New Vogue final,” Cassandra and Joel said.
“There were 21 couples in the first round so that's 42 people out in marshaling to all dance. All the top couples were there.
“We were super excited when we found out we made the semi-final of 12 couples and then we danced this event and found out we made the final 6.
“We jumped up and down in joy. At this major world championship this is just huge! Both our Mum and Dad cried when we danced our final in the evening session! It was very special.”
Our first event was at 9.30am on Saturday and the final for the Adult Open was danced at 9.05pm. The award presentation wasn't until 11pm! It was a very big day! But we are just so happy and proud of what we have done and cant thank our coaches enough. Its only onward and upwards from here!
It’s been a busy year for the brother and sister team who anced in April at the Crown International Championship, in June at Canberra for the Nationals, in July at Randwick for the NSW Open and now at Luna Park.
In September they will be dancing in Wollongong for the South Coast Championship and then October in Wagga Wagga where Kim will be adjudicating.
Then it’s on to Sydney again in November for another national title at the East Coast Classic.