A HIGHLAND dancing coach from Helensburgh says she “cried many happy tears” after watching her team of talented youngsters round off a successful international competition to return home with several medals.
Members of the Margaret Rose School of Dance represented Scotland at the recent Dance World Cup in Telford, Shropshire after it was moved from Spain due to Covid-19 travel restrictions.
The annual event brings together more than 120,000 competitors from around 60 countries for the qualifiers and world finals each year - and the Helensburgh and Lomond dancers made it a week to remember as they scooped plenty of prizes.
Margaret MacInnes, who has run her dance school for more than 40 years and earned a British Empire Medal in December 2019 in recognition of her services to Highland dancing and the community in Helensburgh, said she was “bursting with pride with the success of our team”.
“I never dreamed we would have had such a successful competition,” she said, “and this just proves to every dancer if you work hard and have a qualified teacher who brings out the best in you the world is your oyster.
“When there was no sign of Highland competitions starting again I decided to give the dancers something to focus on and to work hard for over the summer months.
READ MORE: 'I'm so proud of their hard work': Helensburgh dancers to compete at Dance World Cup
“The Dance World Cup was an amazing event for our group and once we were accepted for the finals we worked hard and perfected our routines.
“I never in my wildest dreams thought we would be returning with 11 gold medals from our two group dances: Ava Lily King, Naomi Sim, Rachel McVeigh, Georgia Dennett, Skye Erith, Grace McGrath, Rhiannon Charles, Samantha Mulholland, Isla Flint, Eilidh Gammons, and Catriona Gammons.”
Margaret Rose dancers also picked up four silver medals from Rhiannon Charles’ solo, Isla Flint’s solo and Catriona and Eilidh Gammons’ duet.
There was also a fifth place for Ava King and Georgia Dennett’s duet, a sixth place from the group of Anna Rose King, Kayla Morley Smith, Lily Dennett, Isla Charlton, and Eilidh Gammons, and a sixth place for Skye Erith’s solo.
Margaret added: “The icing on the cake was that the two winning gold medal groups were invited to dance at the gala show on Saturday night.
“Although there were a lot of Highland dancers at the event we were the only two Highland dance groups at the gala, putting Highland dancing where it deserves to be, up right at the top with the dance champions of the world.
“I cried many happy tears last week and it will be one of the best memories as a teacher.”
For more information on places at the local dance school, call Margaret on 07711398462 or email margaretroseschoolofdance@hotmail.com.
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