Annabelle Kirstein Dance Fest Porec Croatia 2020

Hi my name is Ben and I am raising funds for my daughter, Annabelle age 9, to give her the opportunity to represent South Africa in Croatia, April 2020.

Annabelle started dancing just before she turned 6.

During the course of the last 3 years Annabelle competed at several different competitions, always performing to the best of her ability, giving it her all.

July 2019, Annabelle competed at Euro Dance Fest South Africa and was awarded a gold medal for each of her 3 solos in the categories Acro, Lyrical and Hip Hop qualifying her to represent South Africa, as part of Team Africa, in Croatia April 2020 at Euro Dance Fest Poreč.

Annabelle loved dancing from a very young age, but was not able to attend dancing lessons as Annabelle's mom and myself work full time and most of the dance studio's have classes early afternoons for the younger children. We eventually found a studio that was able to accommodate her on a Saturday. She initially started dancing as part of a group and absolutely loved it. At her first internal studio champs she noticed the other children dancing on their own. The first thing she said after the studio champs was "mamma can I also dance on my own like the other children?" Soon Annabelle was on stage at the end of her Grade 1 year dancing in her first official dance competition, SA Dance Champion where she performed a hip hop solo and was awarded a high silver. This was an amazing result given the fact that she only danced for a couple of months.

The rest as they say is history. Since 2017 and that first competition Annabelle has received a few special awards. At Talent Africa she has received a special hip hop reward. At her very first National Eisteddfod of South Africa (NEA), she was in grade 2, Annabelle was awarded with the Prestige Award, overall winner for Dancing in the foundation phase and was invited to attend the special NEA showcase. At this event she was not only awarded with the special Prestige award but she further received 2 medals as category winners for Hip Hop and Showdance. It is worth to mentioned that only a handful of performers are invited to this prestige event. Annabelle repeated this achievement last year when she was in grade 3, again being awarded the Prestige Award for dancing in the foundation phase and attending the special showcase event.

Annabelle has already performed at a few well know dance competitions over the last 3 years, Dance World Cup, SA Dance Champs, Dance Star, SABOD, SATCH and various Eisteddfods and have qualified to represent South African 6 times already. In her sort career Annabelle has managed to collect over 40 medals (most of them gold) and 16 dance trophies and was awarded dance of the year for the last 2 consecutive years from her studio in addition to walking away with the Junior hip hop award for the last 3 consecutive years. Annabelle is not only able to dance solos but has also danced competitions with a few groups and it is worth mentioning that she competed in categories older than her age.

Although this may read as a fairy tale, it has most certainly not been an easy journey for this 9 year old. When she was in grade 2 this little lady had to cope with one of her close family member going through a very touch illness. How did she cope, she simply said that she is dancing and hoping that it will bring joy and healing to the family member's soul. This experience made Annabelle even more determined to become a better performer. Anyone that know Annabelle will tell you that she does not wait for good results to happen she works very hard every day and has an amassing ability to understand that success is coupled with very very hard work and does not shy away when it is time to practice! She knows with hard work and dedication anything is possible.

Performing at Euro Dance Fest Poreč in Croatia 2020 will not only make Annabelle's dream of performing on the world stage come true, but will be one of the most important stepping stones to becoming a successful performer in future. We are hoping that the experience would last her a lifetime and that she would be able to share her new dance knowledge with her dance friends.

Funds will be used for:

Air Ticket

Travel Insurance

Transfers between Hotel and Airport

SA Team Jacket

4 Solo Entries

Accommodation in Poreč

• Visa Cost
• Each and every donation will be much appreciated.

Feel free to contact, Talent Africa at [email protected], should you require confirmation that Annabelle is part of the team representing South Africa at Euro Dance Fest Poreč, Croatia in April 2020.

Thank you in advance, Ben (Dad), Annamarie (Mom) and Annabelle.