Young dancers make it through to national ballet finals

Jan 29 2008 by Laura Sharpe, Liverpool Daily Post

THREE aspiring young dancers are preparing to pirouette their way to success after reaching the national finals of a ballet competition.

The pupils from St Helens and Chester competed against 100 candidates to secure their place in the Fonteyn Nureyev Young Dancers Competition.

Named after two of the world’s ballet greats, Dame Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev, the prestigious competition will end at London’s Bloomsbury Theatre in April.

Ross McCaw, 12, from Chester, Dominique Halsall, 13, and Natasha Agarwal, 11, both from St Helens, impressed the judges with their posture, movement, accuracy and artistic performances.

Elizabeth Hill, who has taught Natasha and Dominique since they were three, said she was delighted the girls had done so well.

Ms Hill said: “Both girls are talented in other areas of dance, tap, modern and the competition has been such a wonderful experience for them.

“They have done particularly well because they competed against full-time dancers, whereas both of these girls are at a normal academic school and practice over 10 hours a week.”

Created in the hope of securing the future of ballet, the competition is organised as a flagship event by the Royal Academy of Dance.

The three students danced over three days performing a prepared choreographed variation set to music from the Harry Potter film and new material.

And despite the pressure of competing for only seven places in the North West heat, the candidates stunned judges and friends and family in the audience.

Leena Chagla, mother of Natasha, said: “The whole family watched her compete and we are so proud of her. She was absolutely delighted when she heard she was through.”

“She’s great at classical, jazz, modern and tap as well.”