Snohomish County’s ballroom dancing darlings — Erik Linder of Lake Stevens and Rickie Taylor of Edmonds — are still competing.
People who have followed the duo know that they began dancing together more than 10 years ago at age 4 and that they won the first of their many national championships when they were just 7 years old. They’ve been featured on TV’s “Dancing With the Stars,” “America’s Got Talent” and the Oprah Winfrey show.
Now in their teens, Erik and Rickie are preparing for their second trip to the World Championship Ballroom Dance competition in early December at Disneyland Paris.
There they will defend their title as the under-16 ballroom dance world champions and also will compete in the championships for Latin dance. This past year, they earned gold medals for the United States, placing first out of 50 couples in the under-16 standard ballroom dance competition. The runners-up included well-known dancers from England, Russia and Ukraine, along with their friends (and archrivals) Kinsley Lin and Michelle Yiu from San Francisco.
It takes a lot of money to participate in these international competitions, especially the trip to France, said Erik’s mom Holly Linder. Both dancers teach lessons at First Class Ballroom in Everett to help with expenses, she said.
A fundraiser show, during which the duo will demonstrate all 10 of their competitive dances, is tentatively set for the end of October at Team Fitness in Lake Stevens. Admission will be by donation to the trip expense fund.
“Erik and Rickie have been working hard all summer, with no breaks, preparing for a fall season full of national and international competition,” Holly Linder said.
Rickie and Erik will be participating in competitions in Irvine, California, London, England, and the country of Moldova before heading to Paris.
“With all Erik and Rickie are striving for and have accomplished, it takes a tremendous amount of time, energy and money from both the dancers and their families,” Linder said. “Costs include lessons, travel, costumes, dance shoes and more lessons with world-class coaches. As families with other children as well, we have become very creative and resourceful to make it all happen.”
To make it easy for fans to donate to the cause, the teens have set up a crowd-funding donation account at http://www.gofundme.com/Erikandrickie.
Donations online to go directly to help fund the trip to the World Championships in Paris. So far, the teens have raised about half of the $8,800 needed for the trip.
“They are both very dedicated and talented kids,” Linder said. “Erik and Rickie are very fortunate to be equally committed to their dancing and to each other as dance partners. It’s such a rare thing. They plan to continue with competitive ballroom as amateurs and then go on as professionals.”
Holly Linder admits that, as a mom, she is biased.
“Erik and Rickie are mesmerizing the moment they step onto the floor. Full of elegance, sophistication and athleticism, they quickly take you away with the beauty in their dancing.”
Gale Fiege: 425-339-3427; gfiege@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @galefiege.
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