A team of dancers from Callington has finished top of the leader board at the Dance World Cup in Prague as part of Team England.

The 12 Moondancers from the Moondance Studio spent a week in the Czech Republic as part of the English contingent walking away as overall winners, closely followed by Germany in second place and Bulgaria in third. 

The Dance World Cup is described as the greatest all-genre dance competition for children and young adults in the world and attracted 9,500 dancers from 54 countries.

During a week of competition the team of Moondancers managed to amass a 4th in the small ballet group category, 8th in the small Acro-dance group, 9th in the children’s large ballet group, 10th in musical theatre and 14th with their ballet trio. 

Nyana Engel finished second in the world as jazz soloist; her silver medal along with her high score securing her a ‘golden ticket’ to Barcelona for a weekend of training in October. 

It’s the first time the Moondancers have participated as a team and the second time for Nyana competing solo. 

The experience the dancers get out there is huge, Natalie Engel, principal at the school, explained: “It’s like a dancer’s heaven with the best teachers, with companies scouting for talent, and workshops for dancers to attend including Abi Lee from Dance Moms.

“It was an amazing experience for the kids. At one point there were 900 dancers on the stage from all over the world as they were playing the national anthem for a country winning. It was beautiful to see and we were so happy for the children.

“We compete so much in the South West but it’s hard to gauge where you are in regards to the rest of the country. It’s so nice to see that we are on the right lines.” 

After a 23-hour journey back, it’s business as usual for the girls as they start preparing for the 2025 world cup in Burgos, Spain.

Natalie added: ”Auditions are in November so the work has already begun for next year!”