Another goal reached! Top 25 on the WDSF ranking list, 2015

After 7 years of determination and persistence, we realized our goal of climbing to the top 25 in the world!  What a thrill and honour to finally make it on the first page of the WDSF ranking list.  What sometimes seem unattainable is made possible if you keep going forward even when you feel you are pushed back or slowed down.  Thank you to everyone who has followed us on our journey. Also, thank you to our sponsors, Evolution Sport Therapy and Nature's Essences 

International Senior Cup and Snowball Classic

7 competitions in the last 9 weeks!  It was a hectic pace that tested us both mentally and physically.  We traveled to various countries and then finally back home to Vancouver for the Snowball Classic.  Just a week before, we were in Bologna for the International Senior Cup and finished 7th out of 29 couples.  We would have loved to make the finals and top 6, but considering the caliber of the competitors, we were thrilled to be amongst the top senior dancers in the world.  

Coming home after a long training trip is always stressful as the pressure and expectations are waiting.  Arriving two days before the competition did not give us enough time to recover from the jet lag, but we refused to use that as an excuse.  We were happy and proud to defend our Senior Championship title and to be the top BC Adult standard couple for the second year in a row.  This was our last competition this year, and it's an amazing feeling to be challenged regularly, to face it, and to defeat it.

  

Platja d'Aro 2014

Platja d'Aro, a small beach resort town in Spain, is one of our favorite cities to visit and compete in. Before arriving in Spain, our travel day started very early in Molinella. Often times, things don't go exactly as planned and today was one of those days. We walked to the train station not knowing it was a national holiday in Italy and the trains were on a limited schedule. We would miss our flight if we waited for the next train, so we had to pay someone to drive us to the airport. We made it on time, but the flight was delayed for almost an hour. When we arrived in Barcelona, we missed our bus to Platja D'aro because of the flight delay and had to wait at the airport for another 2 hours for the next one. It was another 2.5 hours on the bus before finally arriving in Platja d'Aro at 8:30 pm. It was our third time here, and we made our third finals this trip, and finished third!  #Dancesport #tonyandgloria #competition 

Holland Master 2014

Another 4th place at Steenwijk, Netherlands! 

Luxemboug 2014

This was our second trip to Luxembourg. The first was many years ago, where we were still relatively new to the European competition experience.  We have learned so much since then, and we have enjoyed every step of our journey together.  There are days when we feel we are getting too old for this, and that we want to quit.  As long as you keep putting one foot in front of the other, you will keep going forward.  Despite a very challenging week, we were able to keep going, and we made it to the finals and finished 4th overall.  For us, the victory was not in the placing, but that we didn't give up.  

World championship and German Open Championship 2014

It has been an exciting two months for us.  In July, we went to our first World Championships as official representatives for our country.  It was a thrill of a lifetime and something we will never forget.  We finished 28th in the Worlds.  Then in August, we competed in the German Open for the fourth year in a row, one of the biggest and most prestigious competitions in the world.  The caliber has increased dramatically this year and we were happy that we improved our placing from last year and finished 30th out of 156 couples.  We were also proud to share this experience with our students, who had their first taste of competing in Europe.  

Dancing in Molinella in the fog by Andrea Cesari

A wonderful gift from our landlord in Molinella, Italy! An oil painting by their son "Dancing in Molinella in the fog".  In the painting, he painted the leaning tower and church in this town and the dancers are us!