Two young dancers from the island, have won the Juvenile Classical Sequence Championship, at the Blackpool Junior Dance Festival, the most prestigious event in the Ballroom calendar.
Amelie has been dancing since the age of four, and Joseph since the age of seven.
Amelie’s mum, Anna, and Joseph’s dad, Richard, both used to do ballroom dancing at the same dance school.
Their children go to Jayne Hill School of Dance.
They won all five competitions that they entered as part of the Blackpool Junior Dance Festival which were the boy category, the girl category, modern sequence, classical sequence, and the championship.
Anna Jackson, Amelie’s mum, said: ‘They have had a really successful year in the juvenile class and in the classical sequence they have one most of the competitions that they entered this season. It has culminated in them winning all five of the competitions that they entered last week.
‘I think that you don’t really see a lot of publicity around ballroom dancing, it is not considered to be a sport but especially for the children, it is a real discipline and they have to work so hard, and practice regularly.
‘It is quite demanding in terms of stamina, and people don’t often see that because it is ballroom dancing you have to make it look easy but actually that is part of the challenge. It is a harder thing to do than people realise. ‘
Over the past 18 months, the dancing duo have travelled to the UK to participate in around one competition a month.
‘We are so grateful to Jayne Hill, their dance teacher, because she works so hard with them, and runs a really successful dance school.’