MAIN PHOTO: Dancers from Milford and Fall River will be part of Team Canada at the Dance World Cup in Prague at the end of the month. Alessia Silveyra, Hailey MacDonald, and Kylie Paul were selected after auditions. (Healey photo)
FALL RIVER: Two dancers from Fall River and one from Milford are getting ready for a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
Kylie Paul of Milford; Hailey MacDonald of Fall River; and Alessia Silveyra of Fall River, will be joining other dancers as part of Team Canada, made up of 200 dancers, at the upcoming Dance World Cup championship being held June 27 to July 6 in Prague, Czech Republic.
Kylie and Hailey will be on the Junior and Senior Jazz and Junior Contemporary Canadian Dance teams. Hailey was also selected to do a trio with other girls from the Eastern Canadian Team.
Meanwhile, Alessia will be in the Children’s hip hop and Children’s Contemporary Canadian Dance teams.
All three agree it is exciting to get to go.
“It will be a good opportunity for all of us to learn from the other dancers there,” said MacDonald, 16, a Lockview High student.
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Hailey and Kylie dance competitively with Dance Zone Performing Arts Centre in Elmsdale.
Alessia dances competitively with Motion Dance Centre in Lower Sackville.
At Dance Quest, the girls auditioned to join the team, and as they say the rest is history.
“We were told a couple weeks later that we made it,” said MacDonald.
She said she was on Cloud Nine when told she made the team.
“I was so excited and wanted to learn more about it,” she said during the interview at the Fall River Dairy Queen on a rainy Friday at supper time.
The girls are continuing to fundraise to be able to cover costs. Corporate sponsors are welcomed and can contact Hailey’s mom Amanda at Moi_amc@hotmail.com.
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Paul is super excited to go to Prague.
“It’s going to be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” she said.
She’s just looking forward to taking in all the routines put on by the dancers from around the world.
“It’s going to be super cool,” said Paul.
VIDEO: The girls teach Pat a dance move.
Paul, 15, wasn’t expecting to get selected for the team.
“I was super surprised,” said the Grade 9 student at East Hants Rural High School in Milford.
She called it an honour to wear the Canadian colours.
“All my friends are excited for me,” she said.
Silveyra, 14, is excited to go perform in Prague.
“I’m happy to go represent my country,” she said.
Like Hailey and Kylie, she was over the moon when she got word she made it.
“I was surprised because I only auditioned for fun, and then getting this opportunity is really cool,” said Silveyra.
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Knowing that the three are from small communities within Nova Scotia and were picked to be part of Team Canada isn’t lost on the three as to how big of an accomplishment it is.
“I think it’s cool that we’re getting to go to this and we’re from a small town,” Paul said. ‘We get to represent Canada on the world stage.”
The three were asked what it meant to them to get to wear the Team Canada colours.
“It’s cool and exciting that I’m good enough to represent Canada,” said MacDonald.
“It means a lot because I come from a small dance studio so getting to put on the Canadian colours means a lot,” said Silveyra. “It’s pretty special. It’s pretty big.”
The World Cup of Dance in Prague is the second largest amateur sporting event in the world next to the Olympics. 68 Countries are competing this year and 6000 dancers.
More information can be found at Dance World Cup (dwcworld.com).
