THREE Perth performers won several medals at an international circus and dance competition in the US recently.
Karla Wessels, Krystal Meakins and Sarah Gray from Perth Circus & Dance Academy in Wangara spent almost a month in the US representing Australia at the World Championships of Performing Arts in July.
Attracting competitors from about 50 countries, the championships covered all facets of performing arts, including dancing, acting, modelling, singing, instruments and a variety category for contortion and other circus acts.
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The trio returned with 13 medals, and Gray was named overall senior dancer of the world.
She won three gold medals, for dance acrobatics/gymnastics solo, variety ground under three props solo handstands and variety contortion open solo.
The academy co-owner and professional circus artist also won silver in the dance lyrical solo category and bronze in dance open solo jazz.
Wessels, of Landsdale, won silver in three dance categories – acrobatics/gymnastics solo, contemporary solo and open solo acrobatics. She and Meakins, of Bullsbrook, won bronze in the dance acrobatics/gymnastics group.
Meakins brough home two silver medals, for the dance acrobatics/gymnastics solo and variety contortion open solo categories and another bronze for dance open solo acrobatics.
“All three of the girls were selected from an audition process to join the Australian teams,” academy director and co-owner Jemma Gray said.
“They went through a rigorous preparation, putting together small snippets of their best work before jetting off the USA.
“They arrived a week early for the competition to partake in team building activities with the rest of the Australian team, including trips to Disneyland and Universal Studios, as well as practising the good old Aussie chant!
“There were two days of preliminary rounds, where the girls swept the floor, collecting their medals.
“From there, Sarah Gray qualified for the Semi-Finals with two of her routines, also collecting division winner for one of the variety categories, before being selected for the final showcase.
“Thousands of entries had been narrowed down to just a few dozen.
“After giving it her all in her 60 second performance, Sarah was named the 2019 senior grand champion dancer of the world.”
Jemma has also been approached to be a talent scout for the the Australian Team for 2020 championships.