Lithuanians in the news
27th November, 2004
"Žuvėdra" Dancesport Ensemble - Fourth Time World Champions!!
"Žuvėdra" at the championship.
Photo: courtesy "Vakarų Ekspresas".
Having recently won first place in the European Latin American group dance championship in Germany last May, the "Žuvėdra" dancesport ensemble from the University of Klaipėda, under the artistic directorship of professors Skaistė and Romaldas Idzelevičius, has now also won, for the fourth time, the World Latin American group dance championship in Minsk, Belarus, on November 27, 2004.
In this championship "Žuvėdra" triumphed with a new choreography, based on the song "Viva Espana", a program just as tempestuous as their earlier winning "Brasil" program. Second and third places were taken by ensembles from Germany.

Edita Daniūtė and Arūnas Bižokas.
Photo: courtesy "Lietuvos Žinios".
The "Gruen Gold Club" of Bremen came second and TSG ensemble from Bremenhafen came third. In the competition there were 20 ensembles from 12 countries.
This is a remarkable achievement for "Žuvėdra", as they have now won this championship for the third year in succession. They now have won it in 1999, 2002, 2003 and 2004.
The tremendous success of "Žuvėdra" on the international dancesport stage again demonstrates the high standards of ballroom dancing achieved in Lithuania. This has also been brought home by the success a month ago of Arūnas Bižokas and Edita Daniūtė, from the "Sukurys" Club in Kaunas, in winning Silver in the World Classical Dance Championship in Vilnius on October 30, when 68 pairs of dancers from 38 countries competed. Arūnas and Edita came within a whisker of winning Gold, which went to Domenico Soale and Giola Cerasoli from Italy.

Sources: "Lietuvos Rytas" 29/11/04, 2/11/04