On 16 February 2019 in Sofia, all the TEA DANCE Sports Club gymnasts took the exam for Level 1 of the sport and technical levels in rhythmic gymnastics.
The exam is compulsory for everyone who wants to be registered with the Bulgarian Rhythmic Gymnastics Federation.
The sport and technical levels are a system for assessing the preparation of girls who do rhythmic gymnastics. There are 10 levels in total, covering four types of preparation: technical (body and apparatus), physical, dance, and musical-creative. Each level contains 10 main groups of exercises: positions; steps; waves; balances; rotations; jumps; acrobatic exercises; physical fitness tests; apparatus technique; and a musical-creative task.
Each level has its own colour – the first seven are the colours of the rainbow, and the top three are the colours of the medals (bronze, silver and gold). Those who pass the exam receive a certificate and a little rose in the level's colour.
TEA DANCE Sports Club entered 40 gymnasts for the Level 1 exam, who prepared together with coaches Teodora Gramatikova, Tsvetelina Atanasova, Tanita Nenkova, Latina Tsvetanova and Polina Peneva, and ballet teacher Petar Petkov. For the folk dance part of the exam, the club's girls received professional help from Teodora Serafimova and Mladenka Pavlova, leaders of the Makamlii Dance Club and the Novohantsi Dance Club.
The exam took place under the watchful eye of the examiners: Maria Petrova – three-time world and European rhythmic gymnastics champion; Maria Gateva – European Championship bronze medallist, chief assistant professor and PhD at the Vasil Levski National Sports Academy; and Lyubomira Kazanova – bronze medallist at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
All the gymnasts and coaches gave their all to show good basic preparation and not to disappoint the examination panel.
After the exam, everyone heard the happy news that nobody had failed and everyone would receive their first little rose from the set of 10.
Of course, the TEA DANCE Sports Club team knows that this is only Level One, and very soon will start preparing for Level 2 with fresh energy.
The gymnasts of TEA DANCE Sports Club and the whole team thank the examination panel. Thanks to Ritmika Sports Club and Elizabet Koleva, who welcomed us to their hall for the test. And thanks to all the teachers who worked with the children!
Good luck with LEVEL 2!