Doreen Mokgolo
Cassidy Cheong, an 11-year-old hip hop dancer from Brakpan, has qualified to compete in the international leg of the Dance World Cup to be held in Spain.
This after she won the local leg of the World Cup dance competition held at the Lewende Woord Church in Centurion two weeks ago.
As a three-year-old, Cassidy started dancing by watching dance videos and copying the dancers’ moves.
When her parents realised her talent, they decided to enrol her at Geluksdal Dance Academy four years ago.
When her routine was disturbed when the academy was forced to shut down due to Covid-19, she enrolled at Dexter Dance School and within a week she was moved to the advanced classes.
This encouraged her instructors to enrol her in the world competition.
Speaking to Scrolla.Africa, Cassidy said she still can’t believe that she won the competition.
“There were other great dancers, but I promised myself I would give it my best shot,” she said.
“This confirms to me that I am deserving of competing on the world stages.”
She said she enjoys hip hop dance which allows her to experiment with different dance moves.
Cassidy’s mother, Adelaide Cheong, said she has always known that her daughter was talented but didn’t believe that she would win the world competition this early in her career.
“It has taken hard work and sacrifices to make it this far and we are going to continue supporting her,” she said.
“I used to watch her practising dance that she saw in videos and perfecting her moves. I knew then that she was talented and would make it far in the industry if she received professional training.”
