TORONTO —  The winners of the 2011 Canadian Closed Dancesport Championship, Tony Cooperman and Sabrina Flisfeder, who are both 13, have been dancing more than half their lives.

Sabrina Flisfeder and Tony Cooperman at their ballroom dancing competition.

When Sabrina was in senior kindergarten, she took jazz and ballet, which she loved. When she started ballroom dancing at the age of seven, she didn’t like it at first.

Tony was also a reluctant dancer when he began ballroom dancing at the age of six or seven. At the time, he played soccer, swam and took art and piano lessons. His mother, Tania, encouraged him to join a group dance lesson once a week, but at first he wanted to quit because there were more girls than boys.

“I asked him to continue for two more lessons, and if he wants to quit, he will,” Cooperman said.

Tony stayed with it and hasn’t looked back since. Two years ago, he set aside all his other extracurricular activities and dedicated himself to dance.

Cooperman plans to continue to support her son’s dancing. “Tony is doing what he’s passionate about, and as a mom, I’m doing everything to support him,” she said.

The Dancesport Championship competition was held at the Doubletree by Hilton in Toronto last month. For the event Tony and Sabrina were competing in, there were seven Canadian judges and two American judges.

“It was full of excitement,” Sabrina’s mother, Elena Gutkin, said. “It was filled with expectations on the part of the dancers.”

Tony and Sabrina began dancing together three years ago. Sabrina said that although she doesn’t know what she’ll do when she grows up, she could never quit dancing because it’s a part of her that could never be removed.

“She’s very passionate about dancing, but she wants to keep her opportunities open,” Gutkin said.

Tony’s mother said that her son’s goals are more specifically about dance, including becoming a professional dancer and dancing in all major world competitions.

Tony and Sabrina practise at least six days a week, for three hours at a time. Sometimes they practise every day of the week when they’re working toward a difficult competition, such as the Junior World Standard competition in Chisinau, Moldova, where they will be representing Canada in October.

For the Dancesport Championship, Tony and Sabrina had to complete five dances  in each of the Latin and standard categories. They won second in both those categories, but placed first over all, as they did last year. For all the hard work they did, they came away with a medal and a large trophy.

“Canadians are the milestone for the whole year of very hard work,” Gutkin said.

Sabrina said she is relieved that the Dancesport Championship is over, but she is excited for the opportunity to represent Canada again at this year’s world championships in Moldova.

Tony and Sabrina are often among the younger dancers at competitions. There are six classes of competitors at the junior level – pre-bronze, bronze, silver, gold, pre-champ and champ. Tony and Sabrina compete at the champ level.

They take standard dance lessons, including waltz, tango, Viennese waltz, foxtrot and quickstep, at the Toronto Ballroom Dance studio in Woodbridge, Ont. They also take Latin dance lessons, including cha-cha, samba, rumba, pasodoble and jive.

Gutkin said that working together has had a positive effect on both Tony and Sabrina and has allowed them to be successful enough to place first for two years in a row in the Dancesport Championship.

“I think they learn a lot from working together,” Gutkin said.

She added that they were excited to win their second championship, and they’re hoping to some day win a third.