A CROWD of more than 400 people were wowed by the Danish Gymnastics display team when they brought their world tour to Armidale on Saturday night.
At SportUNE’s Campbell hall, spectators were entertained by the dancing, vaulting and acrobatics of the team’s 28 athletes.
Armidale City Gymnastics Club treasurer Phil Donnan helped organise the performance and said there was plenty of talk about how good the show was.
"One of the telling things was the show went longer than anticipated which everyone was pleasantly surprised about but we had an intermission and we had about 50 kids out on the middle of the floor jumping on their trampolines and doing cartwheels and were really inspired,” he said.
"People loved the dance but also the tumbling.
"They were doing some very impressive skills and double layouts, full twists.
"The buzz of the conversation after the tumbling elements finished and people were talking about what they had just seen.
"They saw several elements of gymnastics, they saw Parkour, rhythmic, tumbling, trampoline and dance.”
Such is the popularity of the ever growing sport of performance gymnastics, people came from Glen Innes, Tamworth, Gunnedah and Taree to watch the international superstars put on the display.
The local gymnastics club already has large numbers of athletes enrolled in their classes but Donnan said they expect a few more people to enquire about signing up after seeing the Danish team.
"All those elements are things we cater for so we do expect there will be some people walking in the door in the next week or two that want to find out more or have a go at it themselves,” he said.
The team conduct their world tour every couple of years and Donnan said the performance gymnasts were eager to bring more shows back to Armidale in the future.
"The team said that this was the best audience they have had in their month and a half tour so far,” he said.
"We spent another 24 hours just coming down off it.
"It was a great night, great crowd and the Danish gymnasts really lifted and did some special stuff for us that other guys hadn't seen.”
The team also visited Armidale City Gymnastics club earlier in the day to run performance classes.
The Danish gymnasts conducted three different workshops in rhythmic, artistic and parkour.
They were well received by a group of more than 40 young athletes who were eager to learn some of the tricks the team do on tour.
Ellen Dunger
Originally from the Blue Mountains, I spent my teenage years in the Riverina at boarding school before moving to Bathurst in 2012 to complete Bachelor of Sport Studies/ Bachelor of Communications (journalism) at Charles Sturt University. I started my career at The Blayney Chronicle in May 2015 and worked casually, one day a week at the Central Western Daily later on that year. I moved to Armidale in March 2016 to take on the role as the Northern Tablelands' sports journalist. Played a variety of sports in my lifetime including touch football, league tag, gymnastics, dance, cross country running and equestrian. Always happy to hear news and tips. www.facebook.com/ellendungerjournalist/
Originally from the Blue Mountains, I spent my teenage years in the Riverina at boarding school before moving to Bathurst in 2012 to complete Bachelor of Sport Studies/ Bachelor of Communications (journalism) at Charles Sturt University. I started my career at The Blayney Chronicle in May 2015 and worked casually, one day a week at the Central Western Daily later on that year. I moved to Armidale in March 2016 to take on the role as the Northern Tablelands' sports journalist. Played a variety of sports in my lifetime including touch football, league tag, gymnastics, dance, cross country running and equestrian. Always happy to hear news and tips. www.facebook.com/ellendungerjournalist/
