Because the entry fee to participate in this championship was beyond the reach of many of our pockets, only the serious few participated in this Asia Pacific-level championship in the individual events.

Mei Ling in the previous year had done extremely well by getting 2nd overall in the Intermediate Open division in what had been her first line dance competition, and was determined to do better this year. And so she did, by getting second place in the Intermediate Crystal category, and champing the Intermediate Open category!

As for Edna, she has always been an active participant in line dance competitions. This year she did extremely well in this championship, taking the champion position of the Intermediate Gold category.

Bronya on the other hand did not participate in this championship by choice. It was only with the push of her supportive teammates that she agreed to join, and it is without regret that she did. Being the creative choreographer she is, she submitted a total of eleven of her favourite dances into four categories in the choreography division, and she swept three first placings, with all other dances following closely behind.

Each of these talented ladies have now gained international recognition in their own right; let's hear it for them!

Having won a friendly competition last year with a dance of their own choreography, the Rhinestone Cowgirls decided to see how their choreography ranks in a national-level competition by bringing it into the Nestle Omega Plus Dance For Your Heart Fest. In this tournament, everyone went straight to semi-finals due to the lack of participation, which was held on the 3rd of July at Kompleks 3K in Subang Jaya.

In the semi-finals, all the teams made it through to the finals; as for the individual events, a total of 10 per age division were selected to enter the finals. The team and individual events are divided into four divisions by age:

• Junior (15 years and below)
• Senior (51 years and above)
• Youth (16 to 29 years)
• Adult (30 to 50 years)

For the finals, the Rhinestone Cowgirls (led by Sze Yen, consisting of Catherine, Ellyn and Tiffany) chose to do a different dance from the one they did in the semi-finals, and had only under seven weeks to prepare it; and this was on top of all other competitions they had to prepare for. In spite of that, the Cowgirls still emerged champions of the Team Youth division... plus the added bonus of getting the Top Performer in Semi-Finals (Team Youth) award!

As for the individual events, only Sze Yen took part in the finals in the Youth division. Although there were only two preselected dances per division, she had to dance a total of three times in her individual category as she had to rematch against another worthy competitor, because they had both tied for a placing. We are proud to announce that Sze Yen won the rematch to get second placing in the Individual Youth division!

The competition had been tough, but it had been a great fight and we had good fun.

The champions of the Team Youth division!

Sze Yen receiving the prize for second place in the Individual Youth division.

Hotel Equatorial Bangi has been organising national-level line dance competitions since 2002. This year was supposed to be the 3rd annual competition, but due to the lack of participation, the normally three-day event was reduced to a one-day event. Nevertheless, the standard of the competition remained high, with the internationally-known popular line dance group Masters In Line invited over to both judge and conduct workshops.

There was only one team event in the competition, which the team consisting of captain Mei Ling and members Bronya, Sze Yen, Ellyn and Hui Koon went in with two dances - one preselected by the organisers, and another of our own choreography. The team did astoundingly well, and walked away as the champions.

As for the individual events, every team member who participated walked away with a placing. Bronya who champed last year's Advanced - Instructors division had come back to defend her title; and defend it she did by winning first place in the Open Advanced & Professional division.

The Open Amateur division was participated by Sze Yen who gave a hard fight to the top and emerged as the second-placed winner.

The Open 45 years & above division had two participations by our team, and they both swept the top two titles; with Yvonne champing the division and Edna in second place.

It was an exciting night full of anticipation and wins, and we look forward to next year's competition!