PICTURES: Inverness cheerleading and dance teams climb rankings on world stage
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AN Inverness dance team has taken an impressive third place at a cheerleading world championship in Florida.
Two more groups from Team Love Cheer (TLC) also dazzled audiences in the USA, doing themselves proud with their quality routines.
The Inverness cohort put in great performances as their dream to compete in two of the most important championships – the Dance Worlds and Summit Varsity All Star Dance championship – came true.
TLC Queens made the Summit podium in the competition’s junior lyrical contemporary category while TLC Passion managed a creditable fifth place in the Youth Hip Hop competition.
TLC Heartbreakers – competing at the Dance Worlds against 31 other teams – ranked 14th in the international open lyrical contemporary category.
This was the first time the Inverness teams had taken part in the events, which can only be entered by being awarded a bid through other competitions throughout the year.
TLC head coach Kerri Love said: “It was an unbelievable experience. In our industry there is no competition that is bigger, and for a small team from Inverness to go there and compete with the best in the world was amazing.
“This is a testament to all the hard work the dancers have put in at training throughout the year.
“It was also a great chance for dancers and families to bond. There was very little downtime as we were preparing for the competition but being all in the same hotel gave us the chance to get together at the end of the day.
“When you are there, and you see the best in the world, it’s a great chance to learn and is very inspiring.”
TLC was the only Scottish team to win a bid for the international event – and are already looking forward to a return to the world stage.
Having taken part in the three-day Future Cheer Superhero Spirit Challenge in Glasgow last weekend, where they came second, the group’s hip-hop team have won another Summit bid and will travel to Florida again in April 2024.
“We are feeling shocked that we received another Summit bid, but so grateful,” Kerri said.
“We were delighted last year receiving our first ever bid, and we are just getting over this year’s Florida trip so we hadn’t had time to think about a bid. I think the team as a whole are in shock that we were the second highest scoring of the dance teams!”
Team Love Cheer performers are now busy with several other competitions lined up for the season.
