British National Dance Championships 2014

Posted on November 24, 2014

The British National Dance Championships were held in Blackpool’s Winter Gardens from November 20 to 22.

Neil and Ekaterina Jones won the Professional Latin event, with Ryan McShane and Ksenia Zsikhotska in second place and Boris Rudenko and Rachael Heron coming third. 

Warren and Kristi Boyce (pictured) won the Professional Ballroom, with Craig and Evgeniya Shaw placed second and Mark and Olga Elsbury in third.

Kyle Taylor and Izabela Skierska won the Amateur Ballroom event, with Michael Hemera and Lauren McFarlane-Hemera winning the Amateur Latin.

Nicholas Butler and Katie Green were the Juvenile Ballroom winners, with Daniel Augustin and Grace Ward winning Juvenile Latin.

Glenn-Richard Boyce and Kayleigh Andrews won the Junior Ballroom event, and placed second in Junior Latin, where the title went to Matt Duffin and Eleanor Beacock.

Michael Foskett and Nika Vlasenko won the Under 21 Ballroom event, with AJ Pritchard and Chloe Hewitt winning Under 21 Latin.

Senior Ballroom was won by Phil Holding and Janine Desai. Paul Hopwood and Carole Ireland took the Senior Latin title.

The first night of the competition had an unexpected technical problem, with an inventive solution. Dance Today contributor Alison Gallagher-Hughes writes: “The roof in the ballroom developed a leak on Thursday. It was initially cordoned of with barriers, then replaced by a faux palm tree in a pot which stayed on the floor throughout the night!”

For a full report of the championships, see our forthcoming January issue.

Photograph: Ron Self 

Zoe Anderson

Zoë was born in Edinburgh, and saw her first dance performances at the Festival there. She is the dance critic of The Independent, and has also written for The Independent on Sunday, The Scotsman and Dancing Times. In 2002, she received her doctorate from the University of York for a thesis on “Nationhood and epic romance: Ariosto, Sidney, Spenser”. She is the author of The Royal Ballet: 75 Years and The Ballet Lover’s Companion.