Tears of joy as Dublin dance school wins bronze at World Cup
North inner city hip-hop group honoured at contest in Prague
Dublin dance school wins bronze at World Cup
A Dublin hip-hop dance group was left “sobbing our hearts out” after winning a bronze medal at the Dance World Cup.
Arkins Dance Company raised nearly €40,000 to attend the competition in Prague and were hit with the “nightmare” of last-minute flight cancellations due to industrial action at Aer Lingus.
But the team of 28 performers, based in Dublin’s north inner city, got to the competition in the end and came third overall for Ireland.
Alysia Arkins, who runs the dance academy, told the Irish Independent that she had just received an update to let them know they got a bronze medal.
The dancers celebrate on stage after coming in third at the Dance World Cup
“They got third in the world, and we are absolutely sobbing our hearts out, we still can’t believe it,” she said.
“We did way better than expected and it was a routine that all the kids were in. It’s just amazing. It’s been an emotional rollercoaster, and we were screaming the place down.
“We got 90.8pc, England got 91pc, and Portugal got 93pc,” she added.
Back in May, Ms Arkins was raising funds to help send the children to the world cup and thanked those who made it possible for them to get to Prague and win a medal.
She described it as the biggest competition in the whole world of dance, and essentially amounts to the “Olympics of dance competitions”.
The competition was held over three different stages and there were 20,000 people at the opening ceremony.
Alysia Arkins, who runs the Arkins Dance Academy on Sean McDermott Street. Pic: Gerry Mooney
Girls from the Arkins Dance Academy practice one of their routines. Pic: Gerry Mooney
The crew only got home from the competition last night and were greeted by their loved ones in Dublin Airport with flags and lots of hugs and celebrations.
Arkins Dance Academy was founded 29 years ago by Francesca Arkins and has since been taken over by her choreographer daughter, Alysia, who is a mentor to more than 100 talented children at the academy.
“At our dance school, we provide a supportive environment for children from working-class families and broken homes, despite facing challenges such as gang feuds, violence, child trafficking, and addiction within our community,” she added.
