School dancers finish in top eight at national competition final

PUPILS from Valley Road Primary School in Henley competed in the finals of a national dance competition.

A group of 35 boys and girls performed a dance routine to I Feel Lke Dancing by Jason Mraz in the final of the Great Big Dance Off in Oxford.

The six- to 10-year-olds had beaten 22 other schools in the regional heat in Swindon in March.

In the final they finished 8th out of the 32 schools with an average score of 8.2 out of 10 across the categories they performed in.

They were judged on creativity, formations, syncronisation and timing, spacing, dynamics, pavement, strength, technique, eye contact and crowd appeal.

Their total score was 246 out of 300, just 11 points short of second place.

The dance was choreographed by Kate Campbell who leads the recreational dance club at the school. Her daughters, Taba, 10, Kiki, nine, and Indigo, six, who all attend the school, were among the performers.

The routine featured “old school” dance moves like the sprinkler and the robot while the year five pupils performed more advanced choreography.

Dancer Alyssa Atkins, seven, from Highlands Park, Henley, said: “I had butterflies in my tummy because I was excited. My favourite part of the day was doing the routine with my friends. My favourite bit was when I got lifted up.”

Her father Russell said: “I was super-proud. I’d only seen her before in the regional finals. To get through to the national ones was just incredible.

“For many of the group, this was their first time in the national final and it has given them all huge motivation to continue dancing and do even better next year. Massive kudos to Kate.”

Mrs Campbell said: “Last year, we put on a very sad and touching story inspired by David Attenborough and climate change. This one was about dancing and having fun. We broke off into large groups and some of the children performed cheerleading lifts. It was more special for me because my daughters were in the routine.”