Another Elite Latin Dance Co. team came home from the 2023 World Salsa Solo competition with a podium result, with our Amateur Bachata team placing 3rd in Brisbane.
For us, though, the story of this team was about much more than a trophy. The dancers began the project as a group of people who barely knew one another and finished the season as a close-knit team built through months of Bachata training, rehearsals and shared experiences.
A year of Bachata training and teamwork
Coached by Kristi Hall and Kristian Stephan-Martin, the team worked throughout the year to prepare a competition routine. Performance-team training requires dancers to learn choreography while also improving timing, partnering, technique, spacing, presentation and the ability to perform together as one unit.
By competition weekend, the work was visible. The team left everything on the floor and earned 3rd place in the Amateur Bachata team division at World Salsa Solo.
Building a Latin dance community on the Gold Coast
The podium finish was exciting, but the friendships created during the project were just as important. Rehearsing toward a shared goal gave the group the opportunity to grow together, support one another and become part of the wider Elite Latin Dance Co. community on the Gold Coast.
We were proud of what this team achieved both on and off the dance floor. Congratulations to every dancer who committed their time, energy and personality to the project.
This article records Elite Latin Dance Co.’s 2023 competition season and is retained as part of our studio history.
