TWO teenage street dancers busted their moves at a European competition – with one winning gold for the third year in a row.
Levon De Silva, 15, of Coriander Way, Greater Leys, Oxford, picked up the medal for Junior Electric Boogie solo for the third time at the European Hip Hop championships, held in Amsterdam earlier this month.
He competed against dozens of other dancers for the title with a one-minute routine he choreographed himself – taking the title by just one point.
About 150 dancers from England took part in the Europe-wide competition, which attracted almost 5,000 dancers.
His friend Kyron Anthony, 13, of Pipit Close, Greater Leys, also snapped up a gold medal after wowing judges in the Electric Boogie pairs with Levon.
The pair had been preparing and practising the routine, also choreographed by Kelly Chandler, the pair’s teacher at KC’s School of Dance, for the past year.
Levon, a pupil at St Gregory the Great School in Cricket Road, Oxford, has only been dancing for two years. Last year he came top of the junior electric boogie category at the World Hip Hop Dance Championship in Kalisz, Poland.
Last night, Levon, who has set his sights on becoming a professional dancer, said: “It was a tough competition but I won in the end so it was good.
“All the tension was gone afterwards.
“I guess I practise quite a lot and try and dance to the music.
“I just feel happy and that it’s what I’m meant to be doing.”
Kyron, who has been dancing since he was eight, added: “I was really chuffed that I came first in something.
“Going to one of these competitions and winning something is amazing. This is the first time I have won anything in a big competition.”
Levon’s mother, Caroline De Silva, 43, a medical secretary, said: “It was probably the closest competition he has ever had. He never thinks he’s going to win. He really had to go for it and give it everything he had.”
Miss Chandler, who attended the competition in her role as England team official, said the competition was the Olympics of the hip-hop world.
He said: “I don’t think they realise how brilliant they are.
“They just have the X factor. They have that charm compared to everyone else.”
Miss Chandler, 35, who runs her classes at Blackbird Leys Leisure Centre, said 14 out of 15 students from her school qualified for the England team.
She said: “I do not know whether it’s something I am teaching and not realising.
“I just want to make it fun and I think that shines through when they dance.”
She added: “It’s the music that young people listen to and it’s trendy, you don’t have to have the leotards, they can come in wearing what they wear on the streets.
“The majority of parents said that their grades improve because they see goals in life and it makes them want to achieve more.”
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