MOUNT FOREST – A young dancer has been selected to represent Team Canada at an international dance competition in Spain next year.
Dancing since she was three, eleven-year-old Victoria Cross Public School student Ava Albrechtas was scouted to represent Canada at the Dance World Cup in Burgos, Spain in 2025 after performing a solo at the Bedazzled Dance competition in Guelph earlier this year.
Considered the Olympics of Dance, the Dance World Cup draws over 9,000 of the world's top dancers annually from 66 countries with only four spots available per age group and genre per country.
"It's a really cool opportunity that fell into my lap," said Albrechtas. "I think it's going to be fun because I get to go to Spain and then I can meet a bunch of good dancers and make new friends."
While auditions are required for most people, Albrechtas was specially selected for the national team by one of the competition judges who happened to see and was impressed by her Bedazzled solo.
"We didn't know that we could do this, or that she was this good," said Albrechtas' mom, Nicole Dauphinais. "It's been overwhelming."
Competing in the Acro genre- which combines classical dance elements with acrobatics, Albrechtas has already learned the dance for the international competition and begun weekly practices in Toronto.
Having tried several dance genres throughout her career, Albrectas said she prefers contemporary or acro but has also dabbled in contortion.
"Dance is just really fun...contemporary is really nice to dance to and then acro is my thing," said Albrechtas.
"Acro comes easy to her," said Dauphinais. "Some people have to work on it but she just picks it up naturally."
These practices are in addition to her regular dance practices at DancEnergy Studios in Hannover said Dauphinais, who estimates Albrechtas spends at least 40 hours dancing a month.
"Her dad and I are very proud of all that she's accomplished so far in such a short life," said Dauphinais. "Every parent thinks that their child is amazing but to actually have validation that other people think she's amazing too, helps make up for all the time and money spent on dance."
As they prepare for the experience, Dauphinais said the family is looking for donations or sponsorships to help the family cover the competition costs outside of the normal dance fees.
It will cost approximately $7,000 to send Albrechtas to Spain.
"We're trying to raise as much money as we can to help out a bit because she still has her dance fees throughout the year...and it's definitely expensive for us," said Dauphinais.
Isabel Buckmaster is the Local Journalism Initiative reporter for GuelphToday. LJI is a federally-funded program.
