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Eleven-year-old brings gold home from international dance competition

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Dancers from South Africa took the sport to an elite level by walking home with medals from the recent International Dance Organization (IDO) World Ballet, Modern and Jazz Dance Championships which was hosted in Ossa Poland.

This IDO Championship was part of Ossa Dance Week and saw 4500 dancers from 32 nations and four continents taking part.

Winners at the IDO World Ballet, Modern and Jazz Dance Championships 2017.

82 South African dancers attended this prestigious competition.  Many who took part in formations and small groups and South Africa did extremely well with some fierce competition from around the globe.

Born in Johannesburg, Tatijana Ignjatov is only 11-years-old and was crowned the Showdance, Modern and Jazz World Champ for 2017, winning 3 gold medals for her solo dances and 1 silver medal for a duo.  Ignjatov is part of the Unity SA Dance Team, which consists of 40 dancers from 15 different studios.

The competition was tight as only the three top dancers from each country are allowed to enter the solo competition.

Tatijana Ignjatov won 3 gold medals and 1 silver medal at the IDO Championship 2017 in Poland.

Earlier this year, Ignjatov competed in numerous dance styles at the prestigious International Dance Organisation Commonwealth Dance Championships. Ignjatov won gold for her ballet solo, modern solo, jazz solo, show dance solo, modern duet and jazz duet. She went on to win the overall Junior 11–14 category.

This is not Ignjatov first world title win but it is the first time in IDO history for a dancer to walk away with 3 World Titles in one year.

Tatijana Ignjatov with her trophy at the Ossa Dance Week in Poland.

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