DANCERS from Westwood with Iford Primary School did their dance teacher proud after narrowly missing out on qualification to a national dance competition.

Twenty-one dancers movers and shakers from the school, who had the youngest squad there, competed at the South West heats of the Great Big Dance Off on Monday, in Swindon, finishing eighth out of 17 entrants.

Although they missed the cut-off point to qualify, the school’s dance teacher Karen Hobson said she was immensely proud of her team.

“They did absolutely brilliantly. We had a very young exciting team, including a couple of five-year-olds. I am very proud of everyone of them,” she said.

“The competition was fierce and they did magnificently well and the loved it too which is the main thing.

“Some of the kids told me how they couldn’t wait for next year, that it was the best day of their lives and that they loved every minute of it. Comments like that make it all worthwhile.”

Preparations for the competition began last November, with the group deciding on a contemporary modern dance titled ‘the hunt’, in light of a poacher killing Cecil the Lion last year.

“We chose to dress up as animals and the dance in general as we wanted to make a point about protecting animals and having a moral behind the dance,” said Mrs Hobson.

The competition open to schools all across England and Wales and is the only national dance competition aimed solely at schools.