American Dancer caught up with World DanceSport Federation (WDSF) Senior IV Standard World Bronze Medalists David Getchell & Allison Gonzalez after their World Championships in Rotterdam, Netherlands, October 13, 2023. This extraordinary couple not only came in 3 of 120 couples at their World Championship, two days later they won GOLD at the WDSF Senior IV World Open – 1 of 68 couples!!
American Dancer: David & Allison, Congratulation!! To what do you owe your fabulous success?
David & Allison: It’s like the joke asking, “How do you get to Carnegie Hall?” The answer is practice, practice, and more practice! We must work on our communication all the time, so we have patience with each other. It’s not easy! We both cross train with Pilates and Gyrotonic. We do rounds 2-to-3 times a week, with a minimum of three rounds each time. We practice every day or have a lesson with our coaches plus guest coaches.
American Dancer: How long have you been competing?
David & Allison: David has been ballroom dancing longer than Allison, with most of his early ballroom career dancing Pro-Am with Anna Trebunskaya. Allison was a professional ballet dancer in her first career, dancing for 20 years in ballet companies. Once we were married in 2009, we started to dance together in ernest. David had created a 5-year plan to move through the levels to arrive at Championship level with clean technique and strong dancing. It took a bit longer than we expected due to injuries for both of us. We did our first USA Dance Nationals in 2010 starting in the silver level and in April 2014 we arrived at Championship level! We decided to try some international competitions and we were thrilled to see how popular ballroom is for seniors in Europe and how high the level of dancing is. Our first WDSF World Championship was Senior 3 in Rimini, Italy, in 2016, where we learned a lot and did not place well! We were impressed by the huge numbers of dancers, their high level of dancing and their strong competitiveness! 2018 brought our first big success with WDSF when we made the podium at 3rd place in the German Open Senior IV competition. A year later, 2019, we made the final in our first WDSF World Competition for Senior IV! We were hooked!
American Dancer: You’ve had a wonderfully successful Amateur career — what is next and what is your goal?
David & Allison: Thanks! We are waiting to see the schedule develop for 2024 to decide when we’ll compete both in the US and back in Europe. We try to go to competitions that have two events for our age group so we will get the ranking points. We’re 3rd in the ranking of Senior IV now which means when there are enough competitors, we get a star and get to skip one round which keeps us fresh for the final (hopefully!). We’ll also look for competitions with camps or opportunities to work with coaches who will help us to improve. We are considered a “classical” couple, so our style is not every judge’s cup of tea. There are such high-quality dancers in Europe, many of whom are now our friends. Our goal is to continue to improve, stay healthy, and enjoy dancing.
American Dancer: Is it still fun? What’s the best part?
David & Allison: Yes, it’s still fun! We love that we can do this together and that we are still learning together.
American Dancer: Will we see you at Nationals in Pittsburgh?
David & Allison: Yes, we are planning to be at Nationals in Pittsburgh in 2024!
Editor’s Note: Read about the 2023 WDSF Senior IV Standard World Championships in Rotterdam, Netherlands.
