MOSSEL BAY NEWS - Two Mossel Bay dancers, Keira Meiring (11) and Anna du Plessis (12), have competed in talent competitions in the United States and have done extremely well.
Keira won two platinum medals for tap dancing and a gold medal for ballet at the International Performing Arts Competition (IPAC) in New York and she was a second runner-up at the International Talent Competition (ITC), held in Connecticut.
Tap solo
Keira did a tap solo for this.
Both competitions took place at the end of June.
Keira was ranked one of the top five junior dancers at IPAC.
Junior group
The junior group is aged nine to 16. Anna won two gold medals at IPAC and she won first place for her dance in the junior category at ITC, where she was rewarded with a trophy, crown and sash.
Both dancers are in Steps Dance Academy in Mossel Bay, owned by Melody RalphAlers. Anna's mother, Tammy du Plessis, started a Back-a-Buddy fundraising campaign a few months back for Anna to go overseas for the competitions.
'We are grateful to God and South Africa'
She said "South Africa helped raise the funds" for her and Anna to get there. "We are grateful to God and South Africa for the opportunity."
Tammy is also grateful to Goshen Learning Academy, the school in Dana Bay that Anna attends, which also helped raise funds. "Thank you to Melody Ralph-Alers," Tammy said.
"She really helped a lot and saw the potential in Anna."
'It didn't feel real'
Ballerina Anna said that before she left for the States, "It didn't feel real, as if it was not happening, but when I got there it was amazing. I saw Times Square and the churches."
She said that although she won two gold medals at IPAC, her highlight was getting the trophy, crown and sash at the ITC competition.
Theme park
Mossel Bay Advertiser contacted Keira when she was at EPCOT, a theme park at Walt Disney World Resort in Florida. She said the IPAC and ITC competitions and the workshops at IPAC were "amazing".
Keira exclaimed: "It was almost perfect! I had jazz and lyrical dancing and also singing workshops. I enjoyed that I could compete overseas. I enjoyed all the places, like Central Park. Disney World is better than I thought it would be." Keira has been to the States before.
Anna du Plessis
‘We bring you the latest Garden Route, Hessequa, Karoo news’
