Youngsters from Helston Youth Centre competed at the annual Dance Machine competition in Plymouth and came home with several medals.

All the dancers were students from years seven to 11 at Helston Community College. First to dance were the senior duo Maea Morgan who was Snow White, and Jessica Marie Woods who took on the persona of the Evil Queen.

They performed a “well crafted” dance exploring the relationship between the two characters resulting in Snow White taking a bite of the apple and falling asleep. They were awarded a gold medal and overall first place.

Next up was the junior team made up of Amber Hughes Edgar, Rhiannon Jones, Shannon Standing, Isabel Williams and Claudia Kitchen who performed Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and won a silver medal, described as “a great achievement” as it had been their first competition.

The senior team of Summer Hughes Edgar, Emily Dougherty, Tamsin Ford, Erin, Emily Whitelaw, Jessica Marie Woods, Libby Rescorla and Maea Morgan performed a lyrical contemporary piece entitled I Have a Dream. They gained a gold medal and overall second, seeing off competition from much older dancers.

Finally, came the open section where as many dancers as possible across the ages were encouraged to participate in a theme based piece.

This year’s theme was the elements and HYC Dance created a piece called Fire influenced by Native American music and dance. All 15 HYC dancers and their two teachers performed and came away in first place.

Thanks have gone to Helston Youth Centre, and in particular Mr Osborne and Annabel Bain, for all their support and funding. Thanks also went to Helston Community College for providing rehearsal spaces and a minibus and driver; David Semmons for music editing and technical support in the shows; Karen Butler for youth support and assistance with costumes and Mia-Luan Vamplew and |Pat Hickman for the dance teaching and choreographic support.