Talented dancers from a Coatbridge studio made an impact on the world stage as they showcased a new dance style and scooped prizes galore.
A 30-strong group from MAD Studios strutted their stuff at the UDO world street dance championship in Blackpool, competing against 6000 participants from 35 countries as far afield as the USA, Japan and Korea.
Seven-year-old Aria Connelly shone as she claimed the under-eight world title, while there were well-earned runner-up awards for under-12 soloist Connor Layden and fellow age-group dancer Mackenzie Blair.
Dance team Lil Gunz were second in the under-12 section and there was also silver for MAD’s under-10 quartet of Kacie Leckie, Kailyn McGill, Olivia Layden and Aria Connelly.
Tayler Glen and Chantel Brown were third in the over-18 duos and 16-year-old Taylor also came fifth in the solo competition; while the school’s Killaz team came fourth in their section and their Young Uns counterparts reached the final.
Fellow MAD members earned further placings, trophies and well-earned semi-final appearances with their performances at what school founder Michelle Allan described as “the toughest competition we’ve ever done”.
They were able to stand out on stage as they showed off their moves from a new dance style named Lite Feet – watched by its originator.
Michelle had a double reason to be proud of her dancers’ achievements, as new world champion Aria is her daughter.
The proud teacher told the Advertiser: “Lite Feet is a new style from New York which we’ve been trying and training with UK pioneers – and its creator, named Chrybaby Cozie, was judging the sections.
“He hadn’t seen many kids as small as Aria doing this style of dance; he was shouting and dancing along with her when she did her solo, which was great to see.
“As a parent, I’m proud as punch of my wee girl and think she’s a force to be reckoned with; and as her teacher, it’s great to win a world championship title.
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“I couldn’t be any more proud of all the dancers and I’m overwhelmed with how well they’ve done – there were dancers from Japan, Korea and all over Europe competing against them so reaching finals and getting places is a real achievement.”
Coatbridge dancer Lily Kilcoyne also recorded a fourth-place finish on her debut in the all-star section at the championship, having moved up to that level following a string of previous successes in the competition’s elite category.
Michelle said: “We always compete at the UDO championship, as it’s the biggest dance organisation in the UK and has grown massively worldwide, and we were the biggest contingent representing Scotland.”
She added of the group’s successful new dance moves: “We wanted to do something new and fresh at the school; the kids were already really good at hip-hop and house so we decided to focus our training somewhere else.
“We came across Lite Feet and found Kieran Warner, a UK trainer who has been coming up from London to work with us for the past two years.
“At the moment, we’re one of only seven schools learning this style, so it was great to show it at the world championship – it’s really helped our dancers level up and develop.
“They’re wee shining stars and are doing really well; all our dancers smashed it out of the park at the competition and I couldn’t be more proud.”
