Ten-year-old dancer to represent U.S. in World Tap Championship

Rebecca Klar
Ellie Chang, a 10-year-old dancer with MOBA Dance Academy, at the 2017 American Dance Award Nationals competition. (Photo courtesy of the American Dance Awards)

At 5 years old, Ellie Chang started taking dance classes.

Five years later she is preparing to travel overseas to represent the USA Tap Team in an international competition from Nov. 27 to Dec. 3 in Riesa, Germany.

Chang, from Great Neck, dances with the MOBA Dance Academy in New Hyde Park. Her mother, Cheryl Chang, said that Ellie does it all – tap, ballet, lyrical, jazz and hip-hop – but is strongest in tap.

At the International Dance Organization World Tap Championships, Ellie will compete in a  solo, a trio, a small group and as part of the formation performance with the whole team. She is one of only three tap soloists competing in her age division for the United States, Cheryl Chang said.

At 10, Ellie is one of the younger members on the team and was selected by the United States Dance-Sport Competition Federation, Chang said. The age brackets are broken into three categories, children for those under 11, junior for those 12 to 15, and adult for anyone 15 or older. The average age for USA’s team members is 14, she said.

“It’s very good experience,” Cheryl Chang said. “Now she has a lot of friends from different states and they all like dance and are all top dancers in the state.”

The dancers on the team come from 12 states and have been rehearsing together in Boston for more than 15 hours per weekend on top of their usual home practice, according to a USA Tap Team news release.

The rigorous training is not new to Ellie, Cheryl Chang said.

Ellie has been on a competition team since she was 6 years old under the recommendation of her teachers Natalie Mossa Wright and Jay Barrett, Chang said. Despite the early mornings and long hours, she said Ellie loves competing.

Every competition weekend she said Ellie is up and ready to go at 4 a.m. – it’s Cheryl Chang who said she often wishes there was a break.

“Sometimes I think, can we stop for a week,” Chang said. “And she’s like ‘no mom, I have to go to every competition.'”

Ellie has won many regional titles and was in the top 10 young dancers at the American Dance Awards in 2017, according to Chang. But winning titles isn’t the main drive for Ellie, Cheryl Chang said.

Neither is the thrill of the stage, she said.

For Ellie – and Cheryl – it’s the moment the team shares when one or all of them win that makes the hard work worthwhile, Cheryl Chang said.

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