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Whistler dance teams sweep Vancouver

Entire team heads to Western championships It seems that Whistler has more going for it than spectacular mountains and lakes and some of the world’s best recreation – we’ve also got rhythm.

Entire team heads to Western championships

It seems that Whistler has more going for it than spectacular mountains and lakes and some of the world’s best recreation – we’ve also got rhythm.

At a regional dance competition in Vancouver this week against clubs from around the province, Whistler jazz dance teams and solo performers earned three gold medals, three silver medals and a bronze. They also earned the right to compete at the Western Canada Dance Championships in Banff, Alberta, this July, joining another Whistler Hip Hop team that qualified for the Western’s two weeks earlier.

"I thought we had a pretty good chance, but they did amazingly well," says dance coach Krista Hoffs of the Whistler Dance Academy. "Now all of our competing girls will get to go to Banff together as one big group."

Meanwhile that same Hip Hop team danced at the 5-6-7-8 Showtime competition in Whistler last weekend, and won another gold medal. "It was last minute that we heard about it, and it was a really big competition with kids from all over Canada and the United States, so we were surprised to do as well as we did."

The girls competing in Vancouver with coach Nanci Potten are Kirsten Young, Brooke Playfair, Rebecca Kleinman, Sara Morden, Brittany Duggan, Kathleen Duggan, Natasha Quinn, Julianna Waters, Alexandra Rusimovich, Nicole Sadler, Megan McSkimming, Holly Hetherington, Samantha Depatie and Stephanie Moody.

The Hip Hop girls, coached by Hoffs, are Lilli Baker, Meagan Lande, Natasha Quinn, Danielle Robson, Becky Bennett, Brooke Browning and Jordan Kobelka.

Now that the team is faced with getting 21 girls and two coaches to Banff, the fund-raising is underway. Local businesses have donated prizes, and the girls will be selling raffle tickets in the coming weeks to raise money for the trip.

The academy currently has 150 girls registered in programs, although only the more advanced girls compete.

The entire club will be hosting their year-end show on June 22 at Millennium Place.