This month we saw 14 solo dancers and 9 teams from the Roberts Academy make the trek north to Cairns for the 2018 Australian National Championships of Irish dancing. The event was held over five days in the Cairns Conference Centre, attracting 100’s of Australia’s best dancers to compete across various solo championship, traditional ceili and modern choreography team events.

This year saw a fantastic team spirit with the school’s team, with most dancers & parents attending each day to support and cheer each other on. Regardless of recalls or results, all our dancers did an excellent job and put their best performances on stage. Several of our dancers achieved their first ever recalls, highest placings, and saw improvements  in marks and overall dancing standard. It’s been really rewarding to see the improvements in each dancer over this year.

Several of our Ceili and Choreography teams came away with Top 5 finishes. The competition finished off on Sunday afternoon with our Senior Mixed Figure. The dancers have worked extremely hard on this all year and were rewarded with 5th place, retaining their placement from last year!

But Nationals isn’t just about dancing! There was plenty of time for the dancers (and parents) to relax and let their hair down! Most families got the chance to fit in a little sightseeing, sample the local cuisine, and enjoy the warmth. We had a great team BBQ on Saturday night, with the dancers soothing their hard-working legs in the pool. And of course, no Nationals is complete without the Annual Ceili, the official after party!