Text by Georgina Rawlings

I was thrilled to get the opportunity to dance at Bournemouth as this was my first competition and I was excited to experience what it was like for the first time. My parents had ordered some dance dresses online for Christmas, but only one arrived so I got a teal gown from Monsoon and we spent Saturday shortening it so I wouldn’t trip. My Mum danced Sequence as a child, so my Grandmother was also excited to help with the dress and come along to watch. 

I was first on the dance floor, so I had to get up at 6:20 in the morning! As you can imagine, I was very tired but getting up before noon showed my excitement and commitment for Bournemouth. After an hour of hastily getting ready, we were in the car on our way.

Upon arriving, I saw the grand scale of the dance floor and number of people watching. This made me nervous but I was determined to do my best and do Dancerite proud. The atmosphere buzzed with a mix of nerves and excitement and everyone was very friendly and helped me through it. I also noticed a very large amount of glitter and almost felt blinded by the beautiful sparkly dresses.

I danced two of my favourite dances, Quickstep and Cha Cha Cha, and I felt very lucky to receive a recall for the ballroom even though I didn’t hear it at first and I ended up in a mad dash to get on the floor.  However this was my only recall and as much as I liked the look of those trophies, the aim of the day was to see what it was like and above all, enjoy myself. Many Dancerite students managed to reach the finals and win awards and everyone’s’ performances were excellent and I thought they were very impressive. Going up to practise calmed my nerves and gave me more time on the floor.

I had been warned it would be a very long day for very little time of performing but watching was interesting and I took my kindle along to read. I had also skipped breakfast, so eating seemed like a pretty good idea as well. As I did not get a recall for latin, we took off a bit early but the experience overall was amazing and I am very proud to have gotten a recall and wear my lovely new dresses.

Although by the end of the day I was shattered, I  had a fantastic day and would definitely like to return and compete more in the future.

Following this link to view some pictures from the Bournemouth 2013 competition.