Young Inverness dancers step things up at prestigious competition
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Seventeen young dancers from Step'n'style travelled to the Skegness Freestyle Championships in Lincolnshire, impressing judges with their performances as they returned to the Highlands with an astonishing 84 medals and trophies.
The school's owner and dance teacher Nicky Barclay believes her students' success is all down to their hard work and dedication.
"It was absolutely fantastic," she said.
"They danced fantastically. We still haven't got over how good the results were. The whole weekend was unbelievable.
"We are so proud of the girls for everything they have done. Some of them have only been competing for about seven months so for them to have so much success at this stage is incredible.
"It's absolutely mind-blowing."
Mrs Barclay says her students get a huge confidence boost from taking part in the competitions – and believes they can also be an inspiration to other children.
"It is such a boost to the girls," she said.
"They get a lot of support on social media when they are doing well and they get to take all their trophies into school and things like that.
"They are an inspiration to others too. Other children see what they are doing and decide they want to get involved as well.
"The girls see other people appreciating how well they are doing and that helps them."
Mrs Barclay revealed that the constant support of her pupils' parents is crucial to helping the dancers toward success.
"The parents are so good to us," she added.
"They are constantly fundraising, and that is so important because it costs a lot to go away to these competitions. It was £2600 to take everyone to Skegness.
"We are going back down south to another competition in Bromsgrove so we do have to do a lot of travelling.
"It's a long way to all these competitions but it's definitely worth it. Our nearest competition is in Glasgow so we always have to go a long way.
"It's tough for the girls but when they get the results they are so happy that it makes it all worth it."
