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Dance Academy youngsters fly the flag for team England
04/03/2021
A Spanish Dance World Cup trip is lined up as members of the Julie Bruce Dance Academy qualify to represent their country
Twenty-five pupils from the Julie Bruce Dance Academy will be flying the flag for Team England at the 2021 Dance World Cup Finals in Spain this summer. The excited youngsters, who are aged from 5 to 17 years, are currently rehearsing their routines at home and looking forward to lockdown restrictions being lifted so they can head back to the dance studio to prepare.
Applications to represent the country had to be submitted online during December due to the pandemic. Luckily the Academy had videoed some of their routines before the latest lockdown period started. Tee Lilly is one of the head dance principals. She said: “We thought we’ll just enter it – we weren’t expecting anything. The competition team has only been going three years.”
At the start of February the Academy received the news that three of their troupes, a duet and a solo had all qualified for the World Cup.
All the children were gathered together online to receive the news. Tee said: “They are so excited. When we told the children we did a Zoom with them. The parents were all on. We said, ‘guess what – we’re going!’. They were all putting their thumbs up.
“For their mindset knowing they can come out of lockdown and have this to look forward to is amazing.”
The competition will take place across three stages at the Spanish Forum Evolution and Principal Theatre commencing on July 2 and running for eight days. On the first day the children will parade in behind the Team England flag.
The competition squad go by the name of Slay Official. They will be going head-to-head with over 120,000 dancers from 62 different countries.
Currently the children are having lessons via Zoom to perfect their routines for the competition. They train most nights after school in a range of subjects including ballet, tap, freestyle, acrobatics, cheerleading, street dance and musical theatre.
Members of the Julie Bruce Dance Academy are currently raising funds to pay for the trip and have set up a GoFundMe page for donations. They already have a number of sponsors onboard but are keen to hear from others. If you can help please call 07526 898134.
Published: by Banbury FM Newsteam