YOUNG dancers from Annan competed in a trio of major festivals over the Easter period.
The events are a highlight of the dancing calendar for the Maureen Smith Dance Academy and proved successful for many of the students.
First up was the Easter Sequence Dance Festival in Whitby, where Freja Smith and partner Henry Beale had the honour of leading off the classical sequence tea dance.
Freja was back on the floor the next day, partnered by dad Gordon, to compete in the advanced modern section of the inventive dance competition with their “Tuxedo Foxtrot”.
Dan Shuker and Freya Carruthers were competing on three consecutive days in their first amateur festival and made every final against the best amateurs in the country.
Solo competitors Zoe Patterson, Charlie Young, Beth Taylor and Gemma Young were praised by principal Maureen for their beautiful dancing.
And she congratulated Zoe who won all four categories over two days, flagging it as ‘an incredible achievement’ at her first adult festival.
Zoe also picked up a third place in a pro/am event, partnered with a professional, as did Freja.
Meanwhile, Maureen had her judging hat on for the final day.
The focus next switched to the European Championships in the Empress Ballroom at Blackpool, where Owen McGregor was competing solo in latin.
In the U14 category, he made the top 12 samba and rumba and came 11th in cha-cha and jive.
The Blackpool Junior Dance Festival followed last week and Owen was there again, in the Champion of Champions Solo Competition.
He made semi-finals at all his events, as well as placing sixth in the cha-cha final, and third in the paso doble final. Notably, Owen was the only British dancer in these finals. In the Classical Section, he danced brilliantly to make all finals at U14 and U16, winning the two-dance national league and also the four-dance event, becoming champion of champions.
To round off his festival, Owen made all Classical U14 and U16 finals, ending up first in Modern Sequence and again made the U14 Ballroom final in tango to be fourth, again the only British dancer in the final.
The couples dancing featured the school’s four juvenile couples representing Scotland in the invitational team match.
Meanwhile, three formation teams also took to the floor, with it being a debut for many members of The Annandale Mini Juvenile Formation Team.
The Annandale Juvenile Formation Team and the Annandale Junior (U16) Formation Team both won their British title respective events, to bring the trophies back to Annan.
Maureen said: “This was a wonderful and a fitting end to junior competition for the four girls who danced their last junior team.
“We also had couples dancing in the under 12 and under 10 categories and the dancers did themselves and their school proud.”
Rounding off the festival were youngsters Anya Melville and Evelyn Laidlaw appearing in the the under 12 semi-final and finishing second in the under 10s Classical competition.
Summing up the month, Maureen added: “Easter was a truly wonderful fortnight celebrating friendship, camaraderie and success in all sorts of ways.
“None of this is possible without the wonderful parental support, the kit organisation of Kate Shearer, the hair and makeup by Freja and all the mums who got involved and the help and assistance over both the festivals from Sharon Melville.
“The school now looks forward to regional competitions in the summer term and the build up to major competitions in the autumn.”
