Wolverhampton dance school takes home three first prizes at national competition

Around 120 pupils from DanceBox Midlands travelled to Essex to take part in the event, which saw them win three first-place titles.

The dancers, who were aged between five and 18, have been working on their routines since December of last year.

Naomi Wootton, director at the Clarence Street school, said: "All of them were really happy and felt like it was deserved and they had worked hard for it.

"I'm just really proud of all of them, they work really hard so they definitely deserve the top three and I'm looking forward to seeing what they do this year.

"I am privileged to represent this city, we always take flags with us of Wolverhampton so everyone knows where we are from.

"We have a big studio in the city so we feel like wherever we go, we represent Wolverhampton and I'm very proud to be ale to do that."

The competition, which took place on the weekend of March 10, saw the children compete against around nine different dance schools.

And parents of the students also got a chance to shine at the event, as they took home a second-place prize and raised £1,500 for Victim Support, a domestic violence charity.

The 41-year-old dance teacher added: "I only asked them three weeks before whether they would do it – I put a call out for parents and I got nine mums and dads who were really up for it and said they wanted to raise money for charity.

"It was all a bit of fun, it's not as serious as the kids but about entertaining and making people laugh."