13-year-old Kingsbury Green Academy pupil Poppy has again danced her way to the top, bringing home a coveted gold medal from the IDO World Tap Dance Championships in Germany, a week-long event with over 1,400 competitors from 20 different countries.
Poppy competed in two dances and was awarded medals for both; she won the silver for the small group category and brought home the gold for the ‘Formation’ category, where she danced as part of a group of 20.
This now takes Poppy’s World Title medal haul to a total of six, after representing team England in the Dance World Cup in 2022 and 2023, and being a member of the GB Tap Team since 2019. She also brought home two silver medals from last year’s Tap Dance Championships in Croatia.
Poppy, who is now in Year 9 at the Calne school, has a rigorous training schedule outside of school with both Wootton Bassett School of Dance and Tap Attack in Swindon.
This was the third time that Poppy has competed in the IDO World Tap Dance Championships and the 2023 event was the hardest yet. She explained, “I was competing against other young people from across the world aged from 10 up to 23; it was harder as everyone was upping their game this year to win. The competition was also earlier in the year so we all had less time to practise!
“Team GB was one of the smallest teams at the championship – there were only 43 of us, but we were awarded 16 medals in total, which was great.”
Poppy narrowly missed out on bringing home two gold medals as the gold for the small group category was awarded to Team GB’s older team, which beat Poppy’s team by only one point.
Poppy continued, “Competition is even tougher for the Formation category as that’s the one that everyone wants to win. The theme of the performance was around American high schools, so whilst everyone else based theirs on films, ours was different, it was a happy and exciting performance based on high school musicals and the movie Prom.”
Poppy’s mum, Alison Smallwoods, added, “Poppy has worked extremely hard to get her world medals and gives up every ounce of spare time to train, whilst keeping up with her studies. We are very proud of her hard work and dedication, and her determination to succeed. We think she is a very special and talented young lady.”
Principal of Kingsbury Green Academy Jason Tudor, said, “Poppy’s determination and skill is a real credit to her and we’re overjoyed that she has again done so well on the international stage. We think Poppy will go far with her dancing and be very successful in the future, and we’re looking forward to helping her achieve to her highest potential.”
Kingsbury Green Academy is part of the Ascend Learning Trust. For more information, visit www.kingsburygreenacademy.com