The Birthday Party, a dance made up of pupils aged 9-13 from local theatrical and dance school Gate, achieved fourth place at the Dance World Cup in Dublin, in which 72 countries are competing.
‘In an extremely high standard class against students from Europe who train for four hours a day, they were only 0.8 marks off the bronze medal,’ said Gate co-principal Catherine Webster.
‘No Guernsey ballet group has ever scored so highly at this huge international competition, with 11,500 dancers taking part in it.
‘To have Guernsey called out at the prize-giving really put us on the map and we are so proud of the children’s achievement.’
This year, Team Guernsey comprises of 97 dancers. The other local dance schools involved are Music Box, Starlight Dance Academy and B Creative.
This is Gate’s ninth Dance World Cup. Although it is an annual competition, local dance schools only usually enter a team every other year due to the expense involved.
Sponsorship from Guernsey Arts, the Sarah Groves Foundation and The International Stock Exchange helped to get the children to Dublin this year.
Gate has entered a total of 15 groups and 64 solos, duets and trios into the competition.
‘We would love to get some medals and clearly this was close, but the competition standard is so high it is tough,’ said Mrs Webster. Her school has placed in the medals four times in previous years.
‘The ballet is particularly hard to place in due to the amount of training the Europeans do each evening, hence why this is such an amazing achievement.’
She said the Dance World Cup differed to the other competitions Gate entered because of the interaction between all the different countries backstage.
‘Coming together to represent Team Guernsey is also the thing that makes it unique and very special. The children have started distributing Guernsey badges to many children who have never heard of us.’
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