What does hip hop have to do with dragon boat paddling, well as it turns out way more than you may think.
The world is a very small place and it’s just gotten a little bit smaller as this story will help you to understand.
On a regular zoom call between Meri Gibson and Orit Ziv-Ackerman (Israeli national representative) going through an update about what was happening in Israel, Orit mentioned to Meri that some professional dance instructors wanted to hold a hip-hop dance competition and that the purpose of that was to raise enough money to buy a dragon boat.
Orit then said that the dancers were talking to her about a well-known hip-hop dancer who happened to come from New Zealand. Now we know New Zealand is a small place and a lot of people globally think that everyone knows everyone else. Well as it transpired on a zoom call with the dance instructors, Meri told Shavit (the dance instructor) that she did, through her son, know someone from the Royal Family dance troupe, which is the dance academy that was set up by Parris Goebel the award winning, world-renowned hip-hop dancer, who choreographed for Jennifer Lopez, the Super Bowl and many others.
Meri said that it may be difficult to get hold of Parris Goebel to be the judge of the competition as she is based in LA and of course extremely busy with her high-profile clients however Meri suggested that perhaps they consider Lance Savali who is a graduate of the Royal Family and has danced with Beyonce and Rihanna.
Meri got in contact with Lance via Instagram and he agreed that this was an amazing cause and would very much like to be involved as head judge of the competition and also to run some dance workshops afterwards. Lance has been busy judging the latest season of Dancing With The Stars in New Zealand so could not go to Israel until late in May.
The dance event was to have taken place in late May, but the organisers now have a goal to make this event even bigger and for it to be not just nationwide but across other countries also, the event will now occur in February 2023. We look forward to hearing all about this in due course and the outcome of the fundraising efforts on behalf of the Pink Lionesses in Israel.
