Success for talented Falkirk district dancers at the Dance World Cup 2023

Teams from Stenhouse School of Dance in Falkirk and McKechnie School of Dance and Performing Arts in Grangemouth were among thousands of dancers from around the world taking part in the annual competition, which this year took place in Braga, Portugal.

The competition is widely regarded as the best all-genre dance competition in the world for children and young adults. The talented local dancers gave it their all when they were at the competition and brought home medals for their effort.

The Stenhouse team, which was made up of six young dancers under the direction of principal Lainie Bentall, were delighted with their achievements. The team were Alexa Hope, 16; Millie Bentall, 11; Laura Hendry, 11; Anna Hendry, 9; Cianna Bentall, 8 and Ella Wallace, 6.

Lainie said: “The Stenhouse team have had an extremely successful competition and I could not be more proud of their dedication, enthusiasm and professional representation of Stenhouse within Team Scotland and to the rest of the 50 attending nations. This small team not only placed top ten in the world in a number of sections, but took home the medals and points for Team Scotland. Amazing work from this team of six. Stenhouse are super proud. We’ve loved being part of DWC 2023 and sharing lots of happy moments and friendships with other schools."

Laura Hendry and Millie Bentall won gold for their song and dance duet, while the ballet quartet – Millie Bentall, Laura Hendry, Anna Hendry and Cianna Bentall – won silver. Millie Bentall received bronze and the Golden Envelope for My New Philosophy Song and Dance. There was another bronze for the girls for Cianna Bentall and Laura Hendry received the Golden Envelope for her ballet solo.

The other local competitors were 33 dancers from McKechnie School of Dance in Grangemouth, who also enjoyed great success at the global competition.

The school’s dancers came home with 12 golds, seven silvers and ten bronze places. They had 29 of their routines place in the top three; 50 in the top ten and 73 in the top 20. A post on the school’s Facebook page said everyone was “so proud” of the team.