A 12-year-old from Herzliya stood on the top step of an international dance podium in Thessaloniki this week, an Israeli flag around her shoulders. Emily Elkobi, a pupil of the Dance Factory studio, won her solo category with a routine titled 'Cat Women', according to the report of her result published on Friday afternoon.
The competition that brought her to Greece is run by All Dance International, whose own records show its Intercontinental & Europe 2026 championship taking place at the TIF Helexpo exhibition grounds in Thessaloniki from 12 to 19 July. The Hebrew-language report describes the gathering as one of the biggest occasions in competitive dance and says entrants travelled from ten countries.
A note of precision is owed on the title itself. The Israeli report crowns Elkobi a world champion; the organiser's published structure lists Thessaloniki as its combined Intercontinental and European championship, one rung of a pyramid whose world finals proper are scheduled for Orlando, Florida, from 19 to 23 November. Category winners at each tier carry official All Dance titles, but which precise wording appears on her trophy could not be independently confirmed by the time of writing.
What is not in doubt in the account of the week is the scale of the double. Beyond her solo gold, Elkobi competed with Outrage, a crew from the same studio, which also finished first in its category. The group's coach, named in the report as Eyal Levi, came away with a Golden Ticket — an invitation to compete in Orlando, which tallies with the organiser's November world finals at the city's Hilton resort.
The routine that won the solo prize was built with choreographer and coach Irina Freidin. Behind it sat a training load that would make older athletes wince: five sessions a week through the year, rising in the final months before the championship to daily work of three to five hours, seven days a week.
Dance Factory Herzliya, directed by Tal Malka, is an established name on this circuit. Israeli coverage of the studio's earlier trips to world-level events records podium finishes for its crews, including category wins at a world dance championship in Portugal attended by delegations from dozens of countries.
The report does not state which age division Elkobi entered. Under All Dance's published rules, a 12-year-old falls within the Pre-Youth bracket for dancers aged 11 to 14, with solo, duo, trio and group subdivisions contested at each level.
The image the report dwells on is the flag. Receiving her trophy wrapped in it, the account notes, carried particular weight for an Israeli delegation competing abroad at present — a 12-year-old's small, deliberate gesture at the end of a very long season.
