Carlisle Dance Academy 'blown away' by competition success

Carlisle Dance Academy travelled with four dance groups, and a huge amount of family and friend supporters, to Ellesmere Port on Sunday, April 21. 

Despite 10 hard weeks of training, the group had few expectations when they arrived in Cheshire, as they tend to compete just once a year. 

However, after four 'flawless' performances from their various age groups, they won four first places, four winning genre categories and were crowned overall champion by the judges after their Hamilton routine.

Teacher Laura Irwin said: "We were competing in the That's Showbiz event against teams from all over the country. We had a fabulous day, we didn't go expecting to win because we're not on the dance competition circuit, so we had no idea what the competition was going to be like.

Children produced some 'flawless' performances (Image: Supplied)

"We had brand new costumes that the children had fundraised for. It was a lot of children's first time competing too, so we were really blown away. The children were absolutely flawless. It was down to their passion, determination, and their love of being on stage. It shows that hard work really does pay off because we were flabbergasted."

Groups consisted of under 7s (tinys), ages 8 to 11 (juveniles), ages 12 to 15 (juniors) and a senior team of over 15s, which are taught by Becca Edwards, Joanna Atkinson, Leony Pollard, and Laura.

Carlisle Dance Academy were 'flabbergasted' by their success (Image: Supplied)

Laura added: "We had fantastic support from the parents. We're so proud of them all. Some girls in our senior competition team will be going off to university this year, they've danced with us for over 10 years, so for them to come away with a first place in their last competition with us, it was just amazing. All of the teachers are so proud of them because it's the level of commitment and effort that they give us that enables us to go to competitions."

After such a success on Sunday, Laura is considering entering in more competitions this summer, ahead of five shows at the Sands Centre.