20 # 07 May 2015

dining guide business & finance sport & leisure history property community

the gibraltar magazine

May 2015
Vol. 20 # 07 FREE

Gibraltar National Dance Team

Dancing to the Top
The Role of Finance
in the General Election
Gibraltar International Bank
Winning Over the Community
Introducing the
Mrs. Gibraltar Pageant
How About Those
Spring Bank Holidays..?
Ghost Hunting at the
Moorish Castle Prison

European Champion 2014 Cailtin Rodriguez

Dancing to the Top

Choosing Gibraltars National Team

Dance is almost certainly one of Gibraltars most well loved past times (sport or art form?... thats an entirely separate debate). The Gibraltar National Dance Team has proved itself amongst the ranks of the highest
rated countries in the world when it comes to dance, having brought home five gold medals from World and
European Championships since the Gibraltar National Dance Organisations inception in 1981. Ranking in the
realms of Slovenia, Russia, Canada, South Africa and the USA, who have millions of dancers to choose from
to represent their country.
HOSTING
THE SHOW DANCE CHAMPIONSHIPS
Gibraltar chooses its National Dance
Team every year to give around twenty-five local dancers the opportunity to
represent their country internationally
amidst high standards and fierce competition. Directly behind the curtain,
pulling the strings is President of the
Gibraltar National Dance Organisation,
Seamus Byrne. The Organisation is a
non-profit entity that was approved by
the Government over 30 years ago to
GIBRALTAR MAGAZINE MAY 2015

select the National Dance Team. Juggling

a demanding position at the forefront of
the Gibraltar Cultural Services, a young
family and further volunteer work with
MO Productions, his non-profit entity
that organises the Gibraltar International
Dance Festival, Seamus generally has
a very full plate. Organising the IDOs
European Show Dance Championships
in Gibraltar later this year piles an even
heavier burden onto his back but hes
more than willing to suffer the pain if it
means giving more dancers the oppor-

tunity to perform as part of the Gibraltar

team.
With finances limiting the team to taking
small groups of dancers abroad to compete, hosting the Championship on the
Rock allows for more than 150 dancers
to participate. This will be the second
year the European Championships are
held in Gibraltar. Having organised it
initially in 2011 with approximately
five hundred dancers hosted, Seamus
is striving to double those figures, with
over twenty countries set to register for

61

The GNDO receives a

Mayors Award from
Adolfo Canepa in
2014

the Competition. Seamus ultimate goal

for hosting the Championships is for
international teams to go home with a
positive perception of Gibraltar. His task,
and that of his organising team, involves
arranging flights and accommodation for
other National teams and ensuring the
Tercentenary Hall is fit to host the show
and its many technical requirements.
Seamus believes that bringing the IDO
to Gibraltar will give the opportunity
of performing in such a prestigious and
highly regarded event to a wider range
of local dancers. The Gibraltar side will
even present teams in the formation category, which involves a mass of dancers
working together on one piece.

CHOOSING THE TEAM

This year is the GNDOs opportunity
to build on the 2011 IDO competition.
A huge element of this is ensuring that
the home team is the crme de la crme.
The initial stage involves individuals,
groups and local dance schools (of
which there are seven affiliated with the
GNDO) entering dancers to compete at
the Gibraltar National Championships

62

in Children, Junior and Adult divisions.

BRANCHING INTO OTHER GENRES
The categories include Solo, Duet and
Group sections.
When questioned on Gibraltars leaning
towards certain styles of dance, Seamus
The level of technique is the most explained that we have superb show,
important factor that you need to see contemporary and jazz dancers. He
from any dancer, Seamus insists, as he hopes to open up the team to compete
explains the process the judges process in other categories including ballroom
for choosing the best dancers. Much of and other social competitive dancing.
the technique comes from ballet training, The main reason for the lack of variety
especially when we compete in per- is that these are the styles offered by the
forming arts like show dance, modern majority of local dance Schools. Seamus
and contemporary and jazz, where the insists that Gibraltar boasts an extremely
technique is very high, he adds.
high standard of dance in these areas.
We do need to do a lot in other areas,
He goes on to discuss other integral Seamus explains, in areas such as tap,
factors like personality, image and cho- street dance and ballroom dancing.
reographic composition, which the three
chosen judges will maintain a watchful That is the way forward for the GNDO
eye over. The process will see dancers after the European Championships, beperform at least twice in a number of cause its important Gibraltar takes part
qualifying rounds, before the chosen in other dance genres, and that we are
team is announced. The chosen judges also able to improve our dance standards
are all members of the IDO. Desiree in those. We need to give Gibraltarians
Green is a qualified Royal Academy other opportunities of going to couple
of Dance instructor from South Africa, dance competitions or street dance comMimi Marcac Mirceta is a lecturer at the petitions because there really is more to
Faculty of Sports in the leading country dance Seamus adds. He tells me that
of Slovenia, and Edilio Pagano is the the GNDO will be working closely with
IDO Vice-President who has a Masters Sequence Dance Clubs in an effort to
in Dance from the Italian Federation for promote ballroom dancing in Gibraltar.
Dance Professionals.
Post European Show Dance ChampiGIBRALTAR MAGAZINE MAY 2015

onships, the team will attend the World

Championships in Riesa Germany and
as from next year the GNDO will send
the team to the World Jazz and Contemporary Championships. They are
also aiming to compete in the World
Street Dance Championships and one
day, in the World Couple Dance Festival
in France and the World Olympiad in
Russia.

DANCING TOWARDS THE OLYMPICS

With direct affiliation to the IDO the
GNDO supports the International
Organisations move towards having dance entered into the Olympics.
A prickly topic for many, American
publication Dance Sprit posed the
question of whether dance should be in
the Olympics during the 2012 Olympics
Games in London. The outcome saw
2/3 of Facebook readers insisted on a resounding YES, whilst 1/3 questioned the
subjectivity of artistry. Although it was
almost unanimously agreed that dance
involves many elements associated with
sport. Perhaps if the move is one day a
reality, we could see the Gibraltar team
participating at an Olympic level.

GIBRALTAR NATIONAL DANCE TIMELINE

1982 Gibraltar competes for the first time in a World Dance Competition organised

by the IDO Michael Prescott
1989 Gibraltars first international judge for the IDO Michael Prescott
1989 Gibraltar reaches its first ever final at a World Competition - Aaron Caballero
1993 Aaron Caballero wins Gibraltars first Gold Medal in the World Disco Free

style Championships in Dunaujuvaros, Hungary.
2003 Michael Prescott is awarded the IDO Golden Award at the World Show

Dance Championships in Germany for his pioneering efforts in making

Gibraltar a strong dance nation in the IDO.
2005 Jordan Picardo and Claire McGrail win Gibraltars in the Children Duet

Section at the World Show Dance Championships in Riesa, Germany.
2006 - Gibraltar wins its 3rd Gold Medal at the World Show Dance Championships,

Children Solo Female Section, in Riesa, Germany Ileana Martinez
2011 Gibraltar hosts its first ever-international IDO competition. The European

Show Dance Championships and World Cups are organised in association

with Stage One Productions.
2011 Gibraltar wins three Gold Medals at the Show Dance World Cup in Gibraltar.

Winning pieces included: Pirate in the Children Group; Luigi and Mario

Childrens Formation; Chitty Chitty Bang Bang in Junior Formation;
2012 GNDO founder Michael Prescott is awarded an MBE in the Queens Birthday

Honours list, for his contribution and services to the arts and dance in
Gibraltar.

Gibraltar competes at the World Championships for the first time

(1981)

Tickets for the Dance Nationals 2015 are available now. The
Nationals will be held from Thursday 7th to Saturday 9th May
2015 at the John Mackintosh Hall Theatre. Further information
can be obtained by contacting gndo@gibtelecom.net. Tickets for
the IDO European Show Dance Championships will be available
at a later date.
GIBRALTAR MAGAZINE MAY 2015

63