Prudhoe dance school success in first competition back

The Ultimate competition sees dance schools across the county compete to become victorious, it was originally scheduled before Covid-19 and has now only just taken place.

The Elaine Pygall dance school in Prudhoe entered their company team which saw some of the newest members of the school compete for the first time.

The team came second in the adult's section which was quite the achievement considering this was their first competition since the pandemic started.

School principal, Elaine Pygall said: "It was lovely to see and give them a confidence boost and for them to dance together as a team.

"We have a lot of new starters in the team so it was their first time dancing together in the team."

The school also entered the duet group which saw two of the schools newest members compete with just four hours of practice.

Elaine Pygall has been teaching in Prudhoe for 20 years and set up the dance school back in 2005.

On how Covid-19 affected the teaching and routine, Elaine said: "We carried on out online classes and the schedule ran as normal.

"The company team class couldn't run during lockdown as there was too much of a mixture, they were only allowed back half way through term so they haven't had much practice, we've had five or six lessons."

Later this month the Elaine Pygall dance school is set to be recognised in another competition.

This time it is at the dance school of the year awards, a global competition that recognises and celebrates the achievements made by dance schools across the world.

This year saw the most entrants ever want to be crowned dance school of the year and the Elaine Pygall dance school beat off tough competition to get to the final.

Elaine said: "It's been nice to be recognised after the past 18 months, we entered because we felt like the parents and kids have committed so much over lockdown and Covid.

"They came online training every week and even took their exams, we're very fortunate to have lovely parents."