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10- and 11-year-old dancers melt hearts at Grand Nationals
Wait...they're HOW old?!
Luis Gaskell
07.01.20

Ethan Alban and Karsyn Folds were 11 and 10 respectively. Much younger than a lot of the competition at the 2012 USA Grand Nationals. The game is Shag dancing, the classic Carolina dance that goes hand in hand with beach music.

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They brought their fancy outfits and their game faces. Still, they were seemingly the only kids at the competition.

Great thing there isn’t a height requirement for dance competitions

But being much younger (emphasis on “much”) means that their much older competition is probably packing more experience than them. The disparity in both height and experience seems pretty daunting here.

Although Ethan and Karsyn seem hardly concerned about it. Any kid who’s brave enough to dress fancy and join a dance contest has nothing to lose. Plus, maybe Karsyn is storing some extra confident energy in her curls.

Surely they wouldn’t have joined this competition if they didn’t feel like they had a chance, right?

The music finally starts, and the two of them quickly prove that they did. They know the six-count, eight-step pattern of the Carolina Shag as well as everyone else. Ethan and Karsyn are from South Carolina and Atlanta Georgia, so that same Shag-dancing spirit runs through their veins through and through.

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The confident smiles on their faces when they walked onto the dance floor probably should have given it away. The track backing their routine is Duffy’s “Mercy”. Many younger folks might not know the song, since it was released in the mid 2000s.

Though the name Duffy might not ring a bell to a lot of generation Z kids. She was part of the wave of hit female pop singers of 2007-2010. Think the same generation of singers as Pixie Lott and Natasha Bedingfield.

An unconventional choice for a song, for sure. But if it compliments their skills that well, then we’ve got no complaints here.

And compliment their skills it does!

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Ethan doesn’t waste any time. Just 3 seconds into the music and he gives a spectacular spin before returning to Karsyn. She’s quick to follow and not be outdone too. Karsyn doesn’t miss a step and does some twirling and spinning on her own, all while keeping in sync with Ethan’s moves.

In fact, Ethan is so confident in his dancing that he’s practically showing off

He takes the basic steps of a Shag and cranks it up. The audience isn’t anything less than impressed, especially considering that he’s 11. Karsyn’s footwork is just as good, and she’s so collected during the routine that she seems to even be chewing gum.

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They break up their formation and do a leave-and-return, with a little sidestep. The timing is on point and it gets them another cheer from the crowd. It’s followed with another energetic set of footwork before they take each other’s arms again. Clearly these kids knew what they were doing.

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Oh, and then they throw in a trust fall too. Just to let you know how good they are at this

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They even chat a little while going about their routine. Don’t you wish you had the confidence of two Shag-dancing 4th graders too?

See, now’s a good time to try and picture what it’s like to be one of the grown-ups at this competition. Seeing a bunch of 10 year olds compete against you is cute and wholesome, but then it dawns on you that potentially losing to 10 year olds isn’t exactly a story you’d want to tell your friends.

Although I’m sure the folks at this competition were all good sports about it. Having fun is always a priority over all else!

Plus, seeing how good these two are, people will definitely understand why they gave you such competition. The routine isn’t over yet and Ethan gives a drop and a twirl while Karsyn does the splits. Yes, the splits.

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And Ethan does another drop too, just for good measure. With a minute left to go, both of them know that it’s time to crank up the energy even more. So without wasting any time, they kick their footwork and spinning up several notches.

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And just before the track ends, they face the crowd with giant smiles on their faces and give them a few more moves to marvel at

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It’s a triple win for Ethan and Karsyn. They got to 4th place, they had a load of fun, and a load of views too. About 299,000 and counting on YouTube.

While Ethan and Karsyn weren’t looking to teach us any lessons, we learned one anyway. Age hardly matters when practice and confidence are your top priorities.

How good are they? Reading a written description of someone’s skills at dance is good and all, but it never beats watching it for yourself. Play the video below and see what the crowd was cheering over.

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