Benoni’s dancing queen delights
Already at the age of just 11 Mika-Rose is forced to make some mature decisions in terms of time management and has to create a balance between her studies, leisure and social time and her passion for dancing.
Dancing is traditionally seen as a leisure activity or pleasant social pastime at clubs and parties but is progressively gaining recognition as a sporting code.
Someone who really takes her chosen sport seriously is Mika-Rose Thirion (11), a student at the Steps School of Dance, in Rynfield.
The Grade Six learner at Cotswold Montessori School, in Northmead, recently took part in the International Dance Organisation’s (IDO) Grand Prix at Sun City.
The versatile multi-skilled dancer, who was a member of Team South Africa, competed in a number of events, returning with four gold medals, four silvers and a bronze medal.
She also achieved seventh place in the tap solo competition and 13th in the extremely tough jazz solo section.
The IDO Grand Prix was held in conjunction with the IDO Commonwealth Dance Championships and jointly organised by the Canadian Dance Organisation and the SA Body of Dance.
Over 800 dancers from five Commonwealth countries took part, featuring a mammoth 2 000 entries. The countries included South Africa, Malaysia, Australia, Canada and New Zealand.
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Thirion, whose mother Tammy is a dance teacher, has been around dancing since the tender age of two and puts in a minimum of four to five hours per day in the studio, six days a week, combining both fitness and technical training elements.
