It’s been another difficult year for everyone but as a dance school we have weathered the difficulties and carried on as best we can. The year began in lockdown and it was April before we were able to open once again but all our loyal dancers returned ready and willing to dance on their own as regulations dictated. We managed to complete our first exam session, of the year, with the NATD in July with most people dancing solo and the others dancing as couples. The examiner commented how impressed he was and thought the standard achieved by everyone was remarkable.
September saw the return of our Chesterfield competition and it was great to see so many of our dancers supporting the event either by dancing, helping out or coming along to watch. For most it was their first competition for over a year and it good to get back into things again and blow off the cobwebs. Boris was particularly excited to see his chums once again.
Following this we attended the British Sequence Championships in October and then Grand Finals in November. Both events were well attended by our team and we had some really amazing results. The team spirit, as always, was fabulous and everyone was genuinely pleased to be out and about again.
We also had an NATD qualifier at the end of November for their Medallist Grand Finals in July next year (Covid permitting of course). Everyone managed to qualify, although the event was quite a small one but it did give some the chance to get back onto the competition floor, who had not had the opportunity since our own competition in March 2020. For others it was their first time ever. Fingers crossed we will be able to do it all again in July!
Finally we completed a second NATD exam session in December which was more normal this time as we were able to partner people once more. We did have a power cut which disrupted the exams for some people but all coped admirably with the added difficulties. Once again the examiner was highly complementary about the standard of both the dancing and presentation. The results will hopefully be with us early in the new year.
It has been a testing year but you have all been very supportive and loyal and as we approach the end of the year we can all look back and be proud of what we have managed to achieve together in the face of adversity.
We now take a break to spend time with family and friends over the festive season, which is more than we managed last year! Of course we are not out of the woods yet and things seem set to get worse but with such an amazing team we are sure to get through it and come out stronger on the other side.
Boris of course can’t yet travel to Bearmuda and so will be spending Christmas at home once again. He wishes you all a very merry Christmas and hopefully a brighter New Year when he is looking forward to seeing you all enjoying yourselves at events once again and of course seeing all his friends once more.