Fantastic results for Turners Dance School as record number of dancers compete at National IDTA Scholarship

Date published: 14 September 2023

A record-breaking nine dancers from Rochdale’s longest-running dance school were nominated for this year’s National IDTA Scholarship, which sees over 5,000 dancers compete from around the country.

The Turners Dance students travelled to Birmingham on Saturday 2 September after being nominated by their dance examiners when taking their annual dance exams in freestyle.

This year’s nominations included Carmela Coggin, Millie Hutchins, Sienna Brogden, Nell Platts, Lola Seville, Xela Mills, Cailley Mullen, Danelle Wilson and Jaia Bagust.

Reigning champion Carmela, 14, won her age category followed by runner-up Millie.

Nell won the Anna Jones Award for Best Potential in the 16/17-year-old age category after impressive performances throughout the day, and Sienna placed fifth in the 15-year-old category.

The other girls all placed either in the first round or the semi-finals.

Dance teacher Paul Michael Jones, who trained at Laines Theatre Arts in London and began Turners Theatre School with his wife, Lizzie, said: “To be shortlisted from 5,000 is amazing; some schools don’t have any dancers chosen, and we’ve had years where we’ve not had any, or just one.

“We had nine girls nominated this time, and we already have 11 nominated for next year. They do exams twice a year so there’s two opportunities to represent Turners [at the scholarships].”

He continued: “It really shows the level of standard the girls are at; this is amazing and brilliant for them. It’s something to strive for and work towards, and is a great achievement to say you’ve done it.

“Everyone works really hard at our dance school and we’re seeing huge improvements. It’s nice to go down as a team and the students are really supportive of each other.”

Turners will also be taking its champion teams to the Classic Dance Awards at Blackpool’s Winter Gardens, ‘the Oscars’ of the dance world where the students will perform in three categories: freestyle, contemporary and hip-hop.