Girls from Horsham dance studio beat 10,000 entrants to win national competition

A team of girls from a Horsham dance school have won a national competition which saw more than 10,000 acts across the UK enter.
By Jasmin Martin
Published 5th Feb 2020, 16:15 GMT
Updated 12th Feb 2020, 14:36 GMT
The team from Sophie's Studio in Horsham performing in the TeenStar competition which saw them crowned winners. Picture: Fiona Whyte PhotographyThe team from Sophie's Studio in Horsham performing in the TeenStar competition which saw them crowned winners. Picture: Fiona Whyte Photography
The team from Sophie's Studio in Horsham performing in the TeenStar competition which saw them crowned winners. Picture: Fiona Whyte Photography

The young dancers from Sophie’s Studio were crowned overall dance champions in the TeenStar grand final on Saturday, February 1, in front of a capacity crowd at the 02 in London.

The girls, aged 12-15, won with a choreographic piece based on the questionable use of fire arms, named ‘Gun Control?’.

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Sophie McEwan, owner of Sophie’s Studio, said: “At Sophie’s Studio we are famous in the dance competition world for hard hitting choreography that attacks controversial pop culture issues through the medium of lyrical dance.

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The team from Sophie's Studio in Horsham performing in the TeenStar competition which saw them crowned winners SUS-200502-154456001The team from Sophie's Studio in Horsham performing in the TeenStar competition which saw them crowned winners SUS-200502-154456001
The team from Sophie's Studio in Horsham performing in the TeenStar competition which saw them crowned winners SUS-200502-154456001

“‘Gun Control?’ since it’s release in 2019 has won every competition we have entered in the past year, Teenstar being the pinnacle before we put this group dance to rest and work towards fresh new concepts for the competition circuit 2020.

“The most incredible part of this piece is that the dancers create a ten-person human pyramid that after a loud gun shot collapses beautifully as a dramatic conclusion to the piece.”

The girls competed in four rounds starting back in September, the first in Portsmouth, then Southampton, then at The Beck Theatre Hayes before reaching the finals.

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The judging panel, which included BAFTA award-winning broadcaster, vocal coach and advocate Carrie Grant, had been impressed by the girls since the audition round.

Sophie said: “I am unbelievably proud of these young girls, they work hard, support one another, display unwavering commitment to their team and for young dancers living outside of London are supremely talented for their age. Together we are a little dance family achieving the most incredible titles and experiences for a local dance school.”

Prizes won by the girls include £2,500, a fully produced video of the performance of their choice, a promotional photo shoot by one of the UK’s best photographers and an initial extensive winner’s publicity package (previous winners’ coverage includes BBC and ITV television, Mojo, Q Magazines and more).

Sophie said: “With the prize money that the girls won, we have booked a guest workshop with The Greatest Dancer choreographer from last year’s series, Dane Bates.

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“Both Dane and I have a shared experience training at professional London Dance College, London Studio Centre.

“Dane will be at Sophie’s Studio directly at Arunside School on Blackbridge Lane next Monday (February 10) to work with the ten girls for two hours in a guest workshop.”

For more information, visit www.sophiesstudio.com

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