Today was the final qualifying opportunity for this year’s Grand Finals in November. This also meant the last match practice opportunity for those who had already qualified. The location was Doncaster therefore not too long a journey for most people although it did mean an overnight sleepover for those dancers who live in the West Midlands.
It was the under 12 years first and today’s team consisted of Alisha, Scarlett, and Olivia, along with first timers Rosie and Alisha-Rose. Everyone looked amazing and gave a great performance resulting in the following – in ballroom a 2nd for Scarlett and Olivia, 3rd for Alisha, 4th for Alisha-Rose and a 5th for Rosie, in their respective events.
It was then ballroom couples and Scarlett & Olivia teamed up for the quickstep and Alisha formed an impromptu partnership for the Waltz. There was then an unplanned solo Waltz event where Alisha and Rosie both secured a recall to the semi final.
It was then time for Latin and the results were as follows – a win for Rosie, 2nd for Scarlett, 3rd for Alisha-Rose and Olivia and a 5th for Alisha.
The sequence then followed and we dominated in this genre. Firstly Olivia secured a recall to her final and came 6th out of a 7 dancer final. Then in the juniors Brooke secured a very emotional 1st place, followed by Chloe in 2nd and Kaitlyn in 4th. This was followed by the adult sequence where the strong team turnout continued. In the under 35yrs Emily secured the win followed by Craig in 2nd, Charlotte in 3rd and Karly in 5th. In the over 35yrs Paul secured a win over Karen coming 2nd and Chris 3rd.
The over 50yrs was the largest event of the day and 12 dancers were recalled to a final of 6. Making the cut were Andrew, Lisa, Carla, Allison, Serena and Neil; securing final results of 1st, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th respectively.
Finally in the over 65yrs it was good to see a number of dancers from other schools in which Rosalind took the winning spot with Hazel achieving 4th.
We then had the highlight of the day which was the birthday celebration of Chloe (whose birthday was today) and Olivia (who celebrated her birthday yesterday). After singing and cake the events continued.
It was now time for the junior and adult ballroom individual events. There were competed wins for Brooke, Chole, Kathryn, Craig, Rosalind, Emily, Allison and Andrew. Along with solo performance wins for Lisa, Chris and Hazel.
In the ballroom couples Chloe & Brooke secured a win along with Chris & Lisa, Craig & Grace and Paul & Karen.
It was now time for the final session of the day – Latin American. This section generated wins for Brooke, Chloe, Lisa, Chris, Rosalind, Allison, Hazel and Neil. Then in the couples wins were achieved by Chris & Lisa, Craig & Grace and Paul & Karen.
Overall it was a lovely day – inspiring music from DJ Liz, excellent team support, brilliant results and cake – what more could we need!
Thanks as always to our willing partners, who today were Luke, Grace, Craig and Emily, we couldn’t do it all without you. Also, to our loyal team of parents (otherwise known as chauffeurs, financiers, hairdressers, makeup artists, photographers and cheerleaders).
The busy term continues with the final sequence preparation event next Sunday, closely followed by the British Sequence Championships in Blackpool and then the Medallist Grand Finals, again in Blackpool, at the beginning of November.
inspiring music from DJ Liz, excellent team support, brilliant results and cake – what more could we need? This venue also did rather nice bacon rolls and chip butties (both of which I felt the need for).
Looks like a great day – congratulations to everyone! I’ve made a note of the bacon butties for next time 😊