Two brilliant MJ Dance Studio dancers recently took their talents to the international stage.

Sisters Ella and Ruby Dyson represented Australia in the Get the Beat dance competition in California, USA.

Last year, Ella was crowned the pre-junior 9 to 10 years National Grand Champion at Get the Beat in Australia, which opened the door for both girls to travel overseas for the international competition.

Ella and Ruby’s mother Stacy Dyson was extremely proud of her daughters and said they were both very excited.

“They were nervous about the big flight, they have done overseas before but this was the biggest trip they have ever done, so they were very nervous,” she said.

“They did do a lot of hard work and training before they left but it was the unknown, we did not know what to expect at all, it was exciting but scary at the same time.”

Ella danced at the ‘Elite’ level and performed the traditional contemporary which she won Get the Beat last year with, a new lyrical and a traditional contemporary in the Open section and was also the highest scoring in contemporary for her age group.

Ruby danced at the ‘Intermediate’ level and performed a contemporary, musical theatre and another contemporary in the Open section.

“We did not know what to expect, they are a bit of a different style to the Australians, so we were not sure of how the dancing style would go, whether it would be successful over there,” Ms Dyson said.

“Over here in Australia we have seen girls at competitions that have up to 12 dances, whereas in America they may only have one or two solo dances and that is all they do.

“So, we do a lot over here compared to America, they do a lot of training in those solos, so they are very well perfected when they go to nationals compared to us that do six.

“Ella does seven a year, all year she has been performing seven at the competitions, so it was hard to decide to cut back to two or three to take to the United States because they only have two at the max.

“We had to strategically pick what we thought going over, so we just went with what the girls’ strengths were.”

The girls are dedicated to their training and devoted extra hours each week in the final weeks leading up to the competition.

“In the last couple of weeks, they were doing two to three solo lessons with their solo teacher Christina Jenkin, and prior to that, probably two solo lessons a week, every week they do at least two,” Ms Dyson said.

“For Christina, it was her first kids going over to America to compete, Maria has had kids before, but it was the first time for Christina had girls representing our studio over in America, so she was very excited.”

MJ Dance Studio director Maria Slape was thrilled Ella and Ruby had the opportunity to compete overseas.

“It is a great experience for the two girls, it is incredible,” Ms Slape said.

“It is wonderful they could represent our studio at an international level.

“I am always for experiences, whatever kids can get is amazing; I have taken kids before to America and I have absolutely thoroughly enjoyed the experience, so I was really glad they were able to experience it.

“It is really good networking for the girls, and they will remember this forever, it is a very cool experience.”

Ms Dyson was impressed with the atmosphere at the competition, which she said was fantastic and a great environment.

“They are very confident people, and they are so encouraging to all their dancers,” she said.

“It is not about winning over there, of course the win is good, but to me it was really confidence building for all the kids.

“They would all be acknowledged, win or lose, everyone cheered, they were very loud in their cheering, so it was a very positive environment for the girls to go over.

“When they went for the title dance, which is their overall, they do a little special parade, all the title dancers get eight seconds on stage in their costumes they are about to compete in, so that made it all a bit special.

“All of us from the Get the Beat Australia team supported everyone when they danced and we cheered and so forth, so it was great to have Australians cheering our girls on.

“We were going more for the experience and the opportunity, and to go with other girls across Australia, it was great.

“It was a surreal moment going over there because you are dancing with people all over Australia who do lots and lots of hours and they are from (places like) Sydney, so they get a lot more exposure.

“It was just surreal to have two little country girls from a little town in South Australia going over and making friends with these people.

“I think it was awesome just to be involved and have that opportunity.”

Ms Dyson encouraged others to take the opportunity to travel overseas to compete because it is great to be exposed to what else is out there.

“It is a different environment, and if it is something you want to seriously chase after as your career, that exposure to see what is out there is just fantastic, and competing at that level if you want a career is also good,” she said.

“When you are exposed to that elite level it is not so nerve-racking.”

11-year-old Ella and 12-year-old Ruby have danced since the age of four and both girls currently have their sights set on a career in dancing.

“We are hoping to look at ballet for Ella, she is in the Australian Ballet Interstate Training Program at the moment,” Ms Dyson said.

“For her it will probably be the ballet avenue, so we are going to start focusing in more so on the ballet component side of things for her.

“To be a ballerina it is something they have to pursue early, so we will start working towards that and see if that is what she wants to do because she needs to go full-time in a ballet school by the age of 14 if that is the career choice she wants.

“Ruby is probably not as focused on ballet, she is a different dancer to Ella, so probably later in high school we might look at going to different schools for her into the future if that is what she wants to pursue.

“A big thank you to MJ Dance, Maria and Christina preparing the girls to go and giving them the opportunity to go, and to Get The Beat for giving these kids the opportunity to go over, they were very supportive.”