Slovak dance team waltzes off with first place

(The Slovak Spectator; 23/2012; 11/06/2012; s.: 12; redakcia ; Zaradenie: AROUND SLOVAKIA)

THE SLOVAK dance team of David Schavel and Barbara Bilkovičová went home with a first place finish in the first annual Košice Open dance festival. The event combined a training camp for talented youngsters in international competitive ballroom dancing as well as Latin dancing at theWorld Dance Sport Federation level. It took place betweenMay 31 andJune 5. The event culminated with a gala evening on June 2 with semi-finals and finals. Schavel and Bilkovičová took first place in the adults’ Standard category, while Valentin Voronov and Alina Imrekova from Russia took first in the adults’ Latin competition. “The camp aims at bringing together top trainers from central Europe and competitive dancers. The contest itself took place on June 2 and 3 and is unprecedented in eastern Slovakia,” Milan Plačko, the event organiser from the KošiceMeteor dance club, told the TASR newswire. Košice mayor Richard Raši said that he hoped that the competition would be interesting both for sports fans and culture enthusiasts as dance combines both these disciplines. Plačko told the SITA newswire that the event – organised within the Košice European Capital of Culture 2013 project – drew top dancers from 17 countries, adding that the organisers plan to hold the competition annually.

-END