World class in Warsaw: Echinger dancers shine with two third places at the World Cup

Created: 01/02/2022, 07:00 AM

From: Ulrike Wilms

Radiant faces: The modern dance formation “Next Generation” around (from left) trainer Natalya Menzel, Anja Kuzmanovska, Luca Malena Schnitzler, Anna Tonn, Anastasia Menzel, Aurélia Berg, Alina Dillschnitter, Laura Katulic and choreographer Lana Smolnikar danced in a strong Field of participants on the bronze rank.

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Regardless of whether in a solo, duo or formation: the young dancers from SC Eching made it into the international top at the World Championships in Poland.

Eching / Warsaw

- At the International Dance Organization (IDO) World Cup in Warsaw in mid-December, you gave yourself the best Christmas presents: the ten young dancers from SC Eching, led by successful trainer Natalya Menzel, achieved top results in the jazz and modern dance categories. The best individual placements with a third place each went to the junior jazz dance duo Anastasia Menzel and Lea-Sophie Muth and the seven-member modern dance junior formation “Next Generation”. Group with Anastasia Menzel, Laura Katulic, Alina Dillschnitter, Aurélia Berg, Luca Malena Schnitzler, Anna Tonn and Anja Kuzmanovska danced their way to the top of the world in a strong field of 27 teams and achieved their best position on the international stage.

Between hope and fear

The girls were incredibly excited before the World Cup, as the 2020 competition was canceled due to the corona, as well as the 2020 and 2021 European Championships. In preparation, they were only able to take part in four tournaments in attendance in the second year of the pandemic.

In times of contact restrictions and distance regulations, training was carried out exclusively via zoom for 15 months, since May 2021 in alternation between presence and online.

For almost half a year, the training has focused on the dances that should be presented at the World Cup.

And then, right up to the end, the athletes and their parents had to hope and fear whether the World Cup would be able to take place in the face of new, stricter corona regulations in Germany and Poland.

Everyone was very excited when it was definitely clear: We’re going to the World Cup!

Strong jazz dance duo: Anastasia Menzel (left) and Lea-Sophie Muth were happy about third place at the IDO World Championships.

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The ambitious and talented dancers competed a total of 14 times in various formations in the children and junior age groups in the high-class competition.

However, due to the pandemic, some national teams could not come, such as the competition from the USA, South Africa and Canada.

(By the way: Everything from the region is now also available in our regular Freising newsletter.)

With Anastasia Menzel (15), Lea-Sophie Muth, Anna Tonn (both 14), Anna Broska (12) and Tessa Oertel (9), five of Menzel's protégés had qualified for the Jazz World Cup from December 10th to 12th appeared in two duos and each as soloists. In the solo in the Jazz Junior category, Anastasia Menzel achieved fourth, Lea-Sophie Muth eighth and Anna Tonn 17th. In the Jazz Children division, Anna Broska came in seventh solo, Tessa Oertel in 15th and the duo Anna Broska / Tessa Oertel in fifth. In addition, the junior jazz duo Anastasia Menzel and Lea-Sophie Muth took bronze. These results are very remarkable, as there was always a strong field from around 15 different nations in the respective categories and the starting fields comprised between 15 and 30 dancers.

Top performance without a spectator

The WM Modern / Contemporary then took place from December 13th to 15th. The day before, the five remaining SCE World Cup participants met at Munich Airport in the morning to begin their adventure, accompanied by a mother. Strict Corona rules also applied to the flight - the FFP2 masks were not allowed to be removed from the half-occupied plane. And the sporting conditions were also unusual: during the previous World Cup tournaments, the competitions were held on large stages in front of a large number of spectators, which resulted in a particularly positive, tense and motivating atmosphere. This time the event was held in a hotel, the backdrop was limited to the fields of participants and supervisors. In addition, there were the rules of distance that were prescribed for other dance groups.Precisely for this reason, the young people said, a special team spirit and an unprecedented solidarity were felt within the international dance family in order to counteract the contact deficits caused by Corona. Everyone cheered each other on. Team Germany also stuck together and was very happy about the successes of the other German dancers.

Young and talented: Anna Broska (left) and Tessa Oertel achieved fantastic placings in several categories.

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Well deserved reward for hard training

On the first day of the competition and right from the start, the dancers of the formation “Next Generation” showed a perfect and highly concentrated performance at the highest level and were able to prevail over strong competitors in three rounds. The reward for her dedicated and persistent training in the past weeks and months was a strong third place. The other results in the Modern Dance category: Anastasia Menzel came fifth in the Solo Junior category, Anja Kuzmanovska came ninth. The junior duo Anastasia Menzel and Lea-Sophie Muth was also happy about fifth place. In the Modern Children category, Anna Broska came fourth in solo, Tessa Oertel 13th - the children's duo Anna Broska and Tessa Oertel also secured twelfth place.You can now all benefit from sporting successes and many wonderful experiences. And everyone is hoping for a possibly more normal year 2022.