ISTD Qualifier – Pudsey

This Sunday was a little further afield than the previous weekend. It was north up the M1 to Pudsey in Leeds.

There was much anticipation, for a variety of reasons. Firstly, there was almost a full team attending which, with our more recently joined dancers means we are quite a size when we venture out en masse. Also, it was the first time to Pudsey for a few people and a few new couples partnerships.

To say we delivered, would be rather an understatement. Across the children’s and adult’s events we collected 35 first places. Everyone, looked amazing. The music and atmosphere was good which led to quite a few performances being far better than perhaps their expectation and our backing supporters to be jolly and vocal.

There are far too many performances to mention individually but here are a few select highlights :-

In the under 8yrs section Kaitlyn had to dance Quickstep and Samba. As many of you know, Samba is not the easiest of dances, particularly if you have never done it before and are only 6 years old. Nevertheless she worked hard and came 5th in the Quickstep and an amazing 1st in the Samba.

Luke and Chloe have both now moved up a category from under 8yrs to under 12yrs social dance test. They therefore did an amazing job to come first and second respectively in their individual Quickstep and Cha Cha Cha events and were first in their couples Quickstep and Jive.  Isobel had the largest event of the the day, as she had to dance three rounds to make her finals, which she did and came 3rd and 2nd. Grace S had the pressure of needing to qualify in her Latin, which was a Jive. She had two rounds to qualify for the final and came a very pleased and relieved 2nd. Jack won both of his ballroom and Latin events. Also, Molly won both her ballroom and Latin events, with Leila coming 2nd & 4th and Olivia 4th & 3rd respectively. Paige made her debut at this type of competition and secured a 1st and 4th place.

In the sequence events we dominated the field. In the under 35yrs section, special mention to Josh who won, Craig who made the final for the first time and also Karly who got her first recalls in this type of event and made it to the semi final. In the over 35yrs, Serena turned the tables back on Karen from the previous week’s result. This is obviously going to be a very closely contested event this year. And, in the over 50yrs, Carla took the win again, which makes it three wins in the first three events of the year. Well done.

Moving on to the adult ballroom and Latin sections. Firstly, a warm welcome to Charlotte, who joined the team for the first time. Charlotte, used to dance some while ago and has decided to make a return to the dance floor. This she did in style with a win in both sections. Wins were also recorded in the ballroom section by Carol, Grace P, Serena, Hazel, Josh, Karen H, Carla, Iris, Neil, Andy and Geraldine. Then in the Latin section by Peter, Craig, Serena, Hazel, Karen H, Carla, Iris, Neil, Andy and Geraldine.

It was then onto the couples and we had a couple of new partnerships, Craig with Charlotte and Alexander with Libbie. They came a creditable 2nd & 1st and 3rd & 3rd. Peter & Carol and Josh & Grace P won both of their events, Neil & Carla their ballroom event and Andy & Dawn their Latin event.

So there are the highlights. Thanks as always to Liam and Alex for their excellent partnering. Also, to Claire and Josh for their assistance.

One final person to mention is Anita (Grace P’s Mum) who decided there was nowhere else she would rather be on her birthday than supporting all of us at Pudsey – thank you, hope you enjoyed your day.

Boris Bear is still recovering from all the excitement and meeting up with all his bear friends. But, he will be fully recovered and batteries recharged for our competition in two weeks and looks forward to seeing you all there.