By DayakDaily Team
KUCHING, June 27: Two 8-year-old dancers from Sarawak, Jovanna Goh Yi Xuan and Ariella Tang Chen Xin, have etched their names into Malaysia’s DanceSport history at the prestigious DSE Children Grand Prix & WDSF Bitola Open 2025, held on June 22 in Bitola, North Macedonia.
The event, sanctioned by the World DanceSport Federation (WDSF), is a world-level competition that draws elite young dancers from across the globe.
According to a media release today, Goh and Tang, who represented Tyng Dance Academy (TDA), dazzled a panel of 15 international judges from Europe and Asia, clinching a combined total of three gold, two silver, and one bronze — an extraordinary feat for competitors just eight years of age.
More significantly, the duo are now officially the first Sarawakians to enter the WDSF World Ranking List in the Juvenile 2 Solo Latin category — a classification typically dominated by more experienced dancers aged up to 11.
Goh captured three gold medals at the competition, winning the International 3 Dances Basic Juvenile 1 Solo, International 4 Dances Basic Latin Solo, and International 5 Dances Open Latin Solo categories. At just eight years old, she also achieved an impressive 4th place on the WDSF Juvenile 2 World Ranking List, competing against dancers up to 11 years old.
Tang delivered a stellar performance as well, earning silver medals in the International 3 Dances Basic Juvenile 1 Solo and International 4 Dances Basic Latin Solo categories, along with a bronze medal in the International 5 Dances Open Latin Solo category.
Tyng Dance Academy founder and the girls’ principal coach Chan Tyng Tyng said their success is not merely personal — it marks a regional breakthrough for Sarawak, proving that with discipline, vision, and world-class coaching, even the youngest talents from East Malaysia can shine on the global stage.
“This victory belongs to every Sarawakian. Our children carry more than medals — they carry the spirit of Sarawak to the world. This is our way of giving back to the land that raised us,” she added.
The two dancers are part of TDA’s high-performance dance programme, which fuses sport, culture, and discipline with elite-level mentorship — a formula that is fast positioning Sarawak as a rising power in international dance sport.
Their triumph comes as anticipation builds for the upcoming 3rd Borneo Open International Dancesport Championship and Convention (BOIDC 2025), to be hosted this October in Kuching.
BOIDC has become one of the most internationally diverse dance sport events in the region, drawing competitors from over 20 countries.
“With Sarawakian dancers now appearing on global leaderboards, one message resounds loud and clear: Sarawak is not only preserving its cultural heritage — it is producing world-class athletes who are proudly representing Malaysia and Southeast Asia on the world stage,” Chan added. — DayakDaily
