The theme for this year’s House Dance Competition was ’Different Cultures, Different Countries’, which gave the House Choreographers plenty of scope for imaginative interpretation. We saw an eclectic mix of different dance styles, including an African celebration dance, an American cheerleading routine, Egyptian dancing and a Haka, to name but a few. Colour was the order of the day and the girls in the House dances came up with an entertaining variety of costumes to enhance the dance routines.

We were very lucky this year to have two outstanding adjudicators, Suzy Thomas, who is currently the resident choreographer on ‘Jersey Boys’ in the West End, and Jason Piper, who is a lecturer in Dance at Kingston University. Both Suzy and Jason have danced professionally for many years and therefore the dancers appreciated their helpful critiques of their performances. All of the Houses did extremely well, so that the adjudicators had their work cut out for them, especially in the Best Solo category, which this year was won by Charlie Whitehead for Holcombe. The Best Choreographer award was won by Emily Lyle for AGS, who also won Best Workshop Group, but it was Holcombe who emerged as the overall winners. All in all it was an outstanding competition. Congratulations to all who took part!