5 young dancers from the Isle of Wight have brought home gold, silver and bronze medals after they joined Team England in a prestigious global dance competition in The Netherlands. Age just 8, 9 and 10 years old, the girls, who train with The Starlight Academy in Newport, travelled to the Global Dance Open Finals in Apeldoorn last week to compete in ballet, jazz, street dance and acro sections. Auriella, Aria, Imogen, Diwata and Lily went up against dancers from across the world, including from Gibraltar, United Arab Emirates, Spain, Canada and South Africa, after qualifying in an earlier competition, in Kent. As a group, the girls came in 2nd place for their jazz routine, while their commercial group dance placed 3rd. 
The girls paired up for lyrical and ballet dances, with Lily and Imogen taking a bronze medal in ballet. While Lily and Diwata were reigning world champions for their lyrical duet, placing 1st and bringing home gold medals. Aria and Imogen placed 4th in their lyrical duet – and Auriella, Aria and Diwata placed 6th for their ballet trio. While there were also great scores across the board, with the girls holding their own against some very tough competition.
- Auriella Adams placed 9th in the world for her commercial solo and 20th for her acro solo.
- Aria Morgan placed 13th in the world for her ballet solo and 18th for her acro.
- Diwata Vu placed 11th in the world for her ballet solo and also 11th for her jazz solo.
- Imogen Shephard placed 10th in the world for her ballet solo.
- Lily Newnham placed 14th in the world for her ballet solo.
“We had an incredible week in The Netherlands – and we now have some world champions amongst us. “Thank you to all our sponsors Red Funnel, WightAID and Rouse Intellectual Financial Planning and all our amazing supporters. “These girls are really outstanding and the results just prove it!”
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