Rosie Rendall from Yate has won the World Championships for her Irish Dancing twice - once virtually last year and another in Germany just weeks ago.
Having been dancing since she was seven-years-old, the now-13 year-old was recently recognised for her achievements by her school, Yate Academy, who put on an assembly showering her with praise and inviting her to a town mayor's event to perform a piece in front of local residents as well as the council. Her school even added her to a 'wall of fame', but Rosie now dreams of making it as a famous Riverdance performer.
Unfortunately for Rosie, who attends Stuart Irish Dance in Fishponds, she's currently three years too young to audition for the world-famous Irish dance show, despite her "ticking all the boxes" according to her dad, who called it "a shame" as "she's ready now".
Rosie's father, John Rendell, described the audition process for Riverdance, which is now Rosie's dream, as "brutal" but added that she meets all of the criteria listed for the audition process right now at the age of 13, including winning a World Championship title. You have to be 16 years old to audition for the show, however.
Of her recent achievement, John said: "I'm so, so pleased for her. The dedication and commitment she puts into her dancing, well, her family see that first-hand. She trains four evenings a week, five days every other week and training sessions could be two, three, four hours long sometimes.
"But no matter what sort of day she's had at school, no matter what sort of mood she's in, we've never had to make her go to her dance classes. To go to Germany and watch all of these elite, world-class dancers was quite something. They were immaculate.
"Before she danced I thought 'how's my little girl going to beat them'! The level the dancers were performing at was really quite impressive - I have zero coordination and know nothing of dancing myself, but I was utterly impressed all weekend.
"What I did see is how strong a performer Rosie was and I genuinely felt Rosie's chance of being recalled was high and felt she deserved to be right in the mix come the end."
To get to the final of the 2022 World Championships, Rosie had to compete in regional competitions, before partaking in the British Championships in which she came third for two years running. Last year's World Championships was supposed to be held in Amsterdam but, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, it ended up being held virtually, which meant that Rosie had to compete for her first title in her own front room.
Winning it in such circumstances, as well as at her first ever World Championships, her dad said, showed that this and her most recent win "wasn't a fluke".
This time round, she made it to Germany, where she performed around five or six dances on the Friday of the competition and a similar amount more on the Saturday. After the first day of the championships, 50% of the competitors were cut from the competition, but fortunately Rosie wasn't one of them.
John went on to say: "When the numbers were called and Rosie was the winner we couldn’t believe it, the levels were so high, and Rosie’s quality really shone through, and it shows that her dedication and commitment shown to her dancing has paid off so far. She is at elite level, and I can confirm first hand she trains at that level too - her attitude towards her dancing is second to none currently and as long as she enjoys it then we will do all we can to continue to support her (and keep trying to fund her)!"
John's family is hopeful that Rosie's dream of one day becoming a Riverdance performer will come true and that the photo of the 'girl from Yate' up on that school wall of fame, will turn into one in a Riverdance programme.
Rosie said: "I never give up and keep trying to work hard at my dance. I really enjoy it and want to do as well as I can when entered into competitions.
"I thank my coaches who are brilliant and always pushing me and my colleagues as we always drive each other on.”
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