Banbridge Academy Dance team, comprising of 84 pupils from years 8 to 14 recently took part in the NICMAC Dance Competition hosted in Lisburn Leisureplex. We were delighted to enter three teams into this prestigious regional competition. Our Junior Dance team, involving 35 year 8-10 students, performed a delightful routine choreographed to a remix of ‘The Little Mermaid’ winning a bronze medal in the Junior Large Team section whilst the Senior Dance team performed an upbeat and polished routine based on the movie ‘Barbie’. For the first time ever, the school entered a Senior Mixed Dance team, consisting of 34 year 10-14 students, who won gold in the Senior Schools Mixed Teams Anything Goes section for their stylish and skilful interpretation of ‘One Short Day’ from the musical Wicked, attaining a standing ovation from not only the entire Hall but also the entire judging panel. The Senior Mixed Team further compounded their success by winning the trophy for top overall scoring team, which they shared with Portadown College.  The teams were competing against schools from across the province including Regent House, Glenlola, Strathearn, Bloomfield Collegiate and the Royal School, Armagh.  In addition to the team events, individual pupils were entered into Senior Duet and Trio sections with Year 13-14 pupils Erin Lockhart, Amy Davidson and Violet Coen winning gold for their performance of a disco routine to Dreamgirls and Reece Wilson and Keisha Moult obtaining silver in the Senior Lyrical duet. Twins Alexandra and Francesca Duffy won bronze in the Intermediate Pairs Dance section and silver in the Intermediate Dance Trio alongside Amy Davidson. Not to be outdone, Rachel Pollock and Lauren Wilson also took home a bronze medal in the Junior Street dance pairing.

The squad, choreographed by Mrs Ruth Cobb (herself a former pupil of the Academy) and managed by Mrs Jennifer Neill and coached by Miss Rebekah Warnock, Miss Amy Galashan and Miss Sarah Anderson, have shown great school spirit, their commitment has been unwavering, and they have worked really hard to gain recognition in their chosen field. It was fabulous to see so many pupils, male and female, enjoying themselves and achieving the success that their commitment and talent so richly deserved. Well done to all involved.