An Isle of Wight dance school has received a prestigious award following a national dance competition which took place in Kent last weekend.
The Starlight Academy, which is sponsored by Red Funnel, took 31 dancers to Starz UK, where they competed against dancers from across the country in categories including ballet, jazz, acro, lyrical, commercial and contemporary dance. 13 different dance groups attended the event, making for tough competition.
The popular dance school, which is based at Newport Business Park, scored top points collectively — and took away a trophy taller than some of its youngest members!
The Starlight Academy Show Team is made up of 33 members, from 6 to 17-years-old – and is fronted by dance teacher, Mary Bowdery, who has been teaching on the Island for 10 years. The dancers took part in a number of solo, duet, trio and group dances across the weekend, many of whom took home trophies for first or second place.
The award for top scoring dance school was awarded to The Starlight Academy for having the highest combined score out of 25 dances.
Mary said:
“I couldn’t believe it when they announced our name. The standard was so high, so to beat off such tough competition was an amazing compliment to our school and something myself and the dancers are all very proud of.
Article continues below this advertisement “The students have worked so hard and are so deserving. I’m truly proud of each one of them, and can’t wait to get back in the studio to start working on our next event.”
