A newly-formed junior dance crew has won its national division, earning a spot to represent New Zealand at the World Hip Hop Championships in Prague.

Full Force 2025, a team of eight 9 – 12-year-olds from the Anna Lee School of Dance in Christchurch, has been training together with choreographer Keisha Jones only this year.

But with the champs in October, and the crew having to raise over $100,000 to get there, the reality is they may not make it to Europe.

Team manager Cherise Jones said, “Flights, registration, accommodation, NZ team tracksuits, and crucially time to acclimatise, train, and prepare waiata and haka with the wider Kiwi team from across the country – all of this needs to be committed to by late July, or the chance slips away.”

“Because of their young ages and the long journey, each dancer will need a chaperone, plus their coach, so travel costs are significant – roughly $12,000 per dancer (including chaperone) and coach, travelling modestly,” Cherise Jones said.

“But, here’s the hard truth – while they’ve won this amazing opportunity, and they’re trying hard to fundraise, they didn’t see it coming and there is no funding readily or quickly available, and no prize money attached to the win to help them get there,” she said.

A parent of two of the children Jo Domigan said, “This is the opportunity of a lifetime. They’ve worked hard, and pushed through injuries, tiredness, illness, juggling school and all the other things expected of them, to create something exceptional. Their hope was to place, but even that seemed a huge dream. But to win, I think some of the kids (and parents) are still pinching themselves.”

Fellow parent Grant Lowe said, “New Zealand really punches above its weight when it comes to hip hop, so to see my daughter’s crew win nationals, and her duo also qualify for the world champs, absolutely blew my wife and I away.”

“She puts in the work at home, and as a crew, they’re constantly pushing each other – taking on feedback, lifting each other up, and staying focused on their goal. They’re a special bunch of kids, no doubt about it,” Lowe added.

Choreographer Keisha Jones said, “I’m so proud of them. They’ve worked so hard to get here – but we all know there’s still a lot of work ahead of us.”

The team has a Givealittle page for anyone wanting to help this crew get to Prague.

And just over the weekend, Full Force 2025 also won Best Junior Crew at the Hip Hop Dance Crew Championships, earning a second qualification – the Australian finals in Sydney in September.

Domigan said, “If raising the funds for Prague proves a stretch, any money donated will go towards Full Force crew heading across the Tasman.”

“For me as a parent I am so outrageously proud. I see the grit and determination each one of these children puts into their training and their performances. I was stunned when they won the nationals, and there’s something incredibly beautiful about all of that hard work being recognised on a national stage,” she said.

“And the thought that potentially all that hard work could make its way to the international stage representing our country is just mind blowing,” Domigan said.