Lilia Dances to Team England Success

Congratulations to Lilia (Year 10) who has earned a place on Team England with her Dance School, the first time ever that a team from North Yorkshire has qualified for Team England in this competition.

Lilia, who is a Performing Arts scholar of The Mount, is among the team of 30 dancers from Lisa Marie Performing Arts in York which has been selected to represent Team England at the prestigious Dance World Cup Finals in Spain where they will compete against teams from 61 other countries from 24 June to 2 July.

“To win their coveted place on Team England, the dancers from Lisa Marie Performing Arts competed in the English Qualifiers against the very best young dancers in the country. The team, who train in Poppleton, York, went on to qualify with soloists and also in the senior age section,” said a news release from the group. Lisa Marie Performing Arts was established 22 years ago by Lisa Dakin.

Lilia said, “It’s very exciting, especially because this is the first time a team from North Yorkshire has made the national team. We worked very hard for this and I’m looking forward to taking part. The team is looking for sponsorship from businesses or private individuals from the county to help the team take part in this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”

Lilia performing in the Dance Showcase.

Mr Griffiths said, “Congratulations to Lilia for this history-making achievement. We have such talented girls at The Mount and, like all of our Performing Arts scholars, Lilia enriches the skills of those around her, as we have seen in her performance as the Cheshire Cat in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.”

Lilia said, “Having no Saturday school means I can train in dance intensively on a weekend which I couldn’t do at a different independent school.”

In addition to now representing her country internationally, Lilia has previously featured in several professional productions including; the U.K. National tour of Nativity The Musical, spent five months performing daily in The Wizard of Oz at the Playhouse and joined a star-studded cast at the Royal Court for LIVE in London. She achieved all of these accolades whilst attending school part-time and with the support of teaching staff.

The Mount has form for supporting girls in professional and semi-professional productions whilst completing their school studies.

Read about Lilia’s recent accolade in the Northern Dance Schools Competition where she won the Audience Choice Award and see our Dance Showcase highlights.

Read the story of Lilia’s team on the York Press website.