A St Albans teenager won a trophy and a prestigious scholarship through representing England at the Dance World Cup in Spain.
Elise Percy, 16, brought home the trophy for most outstanding solo in tap or musical theatre, out of more than 5,000 dancers, and was also awarded a scholarship to the Arts Educational School in London.
She took part in the Dance World Cup as part of Hertfordshire-based dancing school North Star Academy, which was founded by her mum, professional musical theatre alumni Maxine Percy, along with former professional ballerina Fiona Dear, fellow musical theatre performer Louisa Landon Barr and choreographer Sophia Melvin.
The Dance World Cup was held in the lake week of June, in Sitges near Barcelona, and Elise was one of only two dancers from England selected to perform a dance solo.
Her mum Maxine said: “I feel immensely proud - it was a huge achievement for her to get the scholarship to Arts Ed.
“She wants to be a performer on the West End and she can go to Arts Ed in Chiswick when she is 18. If you go into the West End and open the theatre brochures then Arts Ed is where people trained.
“The principal was at the World Cup and he awarded her the scholarship for the summer course. She did amazingly well. It still pinch myself a little bit!
“I went into the world of musical theatre because I love singing as well, and I’ve performed professionally.”
Elise attends Tring School for the Performing Arts, and has been dancing since she was two-and-half years old.
To win the award for outstanding solo, she performed a routine taught to her at North Star Academy by Louisa Landon Barr.
Speaking about the World Cup, Maxine said: “It was really vibrant and the performers were amazing. The theatre is huge and each country has their own flags and cheers on their own team. There are three professional judges from a musical theatre background.”
Spain won the championship overall by 13 points, with England coming second and North Star Academy winning 10 silver medals and one gold medal.
North Star Academy offers classes in ballet, tap, jazz dancing, contemporary dance and more.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here