Magic of dance leaves the crowd entranced at Grimsby Festival
| Posted: October 27, 2014
CAPTIVATING THE CROWD: Ruby Bearup in the Tap Open for 6-9 years.
GREAT SHOW: Performers in the Tap Open for 6-9 years line up for the adjudicator at the Grimsby Dance Festival at Cleethorpes Memorial Hall. Pictures: Ray Corke
WELL DONE, AMY: Amy Ramsden – the winner of the Tap Open for 6-9 years – clutches her trophy.
FANTASTIC: Performing in the Tap Open for 6-9 years is Isabelle Catley.
SPELLBINDING: Jasmyn Holmes performs in the Tap Open for 6-9 years.
WHAT A TOP PERFORMANCE: Heidi Britteon in the Tap Open for 6-9 years.
HATS OFF: Performing in the Tap Open for 6-9 years is Esmee Mumby.
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CAPTIVATING THE CROWD: Ruby Bearup in the Tap Open for 6-9 years.
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GREAT SHOW: Performers in the Tap Open for 6-9 years line up for the adjudicator at the Grimsby Dance Festival at Cleethorpes Memorial Hall. Pictures: Ray Corke
With the area’s three Strictly Come Dancing stars, Kevin and Joanne Clifton and Karen Hauer to inspire them, hundreds of dancers will be taking to the stage at Cleethorpes Memorial Hall throughout the week.
Organiser Beccy Burns said she is keen to complete research into the history of the dance festival which has involved generations of dancers.
Some say it began in the Sixties, though others believe it started in the Fifties.
Whatever its beginnings, the Grimsby Dance Festival in 2014 is the most competitive, with standards of performance getting higher each year.
As an eight-year-old Caitlin Gledhill, of Clee Dance Academy, said she had loved every one of her performances on the festival stage.
Now 14, the Humberston Academy pupil is training in London’s West End each Sunday.
At the Festival she won the Impromptu class with a salsa-style dance.
Her first trophy of the competition was the reward for more than five weeks of preparation.
She thanked her dance teachers Bev Wade, Rebecca Mooney and Lisa Asher for helping her reach the peak of her career so far.
Caitlin said: “I always love it. I like to make people laugh and entertain audiences.”
She thanked her parents Lee and Sonja Gledhill for taking her to London to gain the experience of working with professional performers who she hopes will enable her to start a career in London’s West End.
Caitlin said: “I really want to work in the West End but also want to be like my teachers, especially Jacqueline Wilson of Blaze theatre group.”
She won one of the 18 different categories of dance which are split into different age groups.
Beccy Burns welcomed adjudicator, Angela Whittle to the Festival.
Beccy said: “We are all feeling brilliant and totally energised and excited for the start of the week.”
She and husband David Burns have a dedicated team of volunteers including Lorraine and David Wright in the Box Office and Cheryl Collins and Shiralee O’Brien backstage.
joclifton 