A team of athletes from Explosion Gymnastics has been selected to represent Canada at the World Gymnaestrada for group performances in Amsterdam next summer based on their outstanding result at the Canadian Gymnaestrada in Edmonton during the July 1 long weekend. Supplied Photo
The fun part is over. Let the fundraising begin.
Explosion Gymnastics in Lloydminster is looking for sponsors and fundraising opportunities to send a young group of athletes to the World Gymnaestrada event in Amsterdam next summer.
Explosion gymnasts will represent Canada at the world’s after their group routine was judged the best at the 2022 Canadian Gymnaestrada in Edmonton on the Canada Day weekend.
“It’s pretty cool that Lloydminster has this opportunity to represent our middle-of-nowhere place and that 23 athletes are from Lloyd,” said team coach Kennedy Demas.
“It was definitely a surprise considering that was our first year even trying to go. There was 13 teams that performed on the first day and an additional 34 teams on the second and third day.”
The nationals and Worlds are held every four years on different schedules as a platform for groups of gymnasts to come together and share their passion and love for the sport.
Gymnaestrada is a non-competitive event showcasing different types of gymnastics such as artistic, rhythmic, cheer and acro in group performances for participants of all ages.
“It’s a lot of fun. It’s a huge showcase for all different types of gymnasts to come together and put on this crazy cool show,” said Demas.
More than 800 participants took part in the national Gymnaestrada, held at the Butterdome at the University of Alberta, along with some workshops.
The theme of the event was “connecting through movement,” which inspired Kirstin Strang, the choreographer for Explosion, to adopt the team’s routine to the movie Avatar.
“I thought Avatar was a new-age futuristic way for people to connect and I just worked that thematic idea into the choreo that I place on the athletes,” said Strang.
“We received some amazing comments from the judges. I’m extremely pleased with how the routine went over, with not only the judges and adjudicators, but also audience members.”
Strang says the kids were quite flattered by the reaction.
“They had different people approaching them through the weekend and stopping them and saying ‘are you from Explosion? I watched your routine;’ it was really cool.”
The team was the only one invited to perform in the opening ceremonies after judges saw their rehearsal in street clothes.
Strang is the vice-president of the Canadian Dance Teacher’s Association (CDTA) for Alberta and the organization’s tap and dance coordinator for Alberta who knows her stuff.
“She got tons of compliments just on how she was able to use all of our strengths and showcase them to the best of our ability,” said Demas.
“When we got called to talk to the judges they said we really stood out with being able to perform our routine and how our skills and our stunts were just one step more than other people.”
Strang says the judges at the nationals requested the team to use the exact same routine at the Worlds next summer because they liked it so much.
The Worlds are set for July 30 to Aug. 5, 2023, and teams have to pay their own travel costs.
“We are playing around with doing some small shows around Lloydminster to promote it and hopefully get some fundraising,” said Demas.
