Ellon Highland dancers see international success at Disneyland Paris
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Pupils from Ellon based Louise Macdonald School of Highland Dancing recently travelled to Paris to fulfil a long held wish to participate in an international competition.
International Gathering of Scottish Highland Dance (IGSHD) and Take us 2 The Magic Disney Parade to place at the start of March, and the journey to get there proved a long one.
A Louse Macdonald explained: "We decided in 2018 to have our first dancing trip abroad to compete in 2020 - we decided on Disneyland Paris - we started planning and used all of 2019 to fundraise to then plan was to go in 2020.
"Unfortunately, our trip was cancelled in 2020 due to Covid, then again in 2021 and 2022.
"We nearly gave up hope for Disneyland and started to look into alternative plans to use the fundraising to go somewhere else to compete.
"Then at the end of July 2022 Disney announced they were going to hold the event one last time in March 2023 (rules are changing so they can no longer run the event after April 2023).
"After three cancellations we made our first international trip to compete as a dance school."
She continued: " And I could not be more proud of all the dancers who took part in the IGSHD.
"What a weekend - all the dancers took it in their stride and shined bright on that stage.
"What a wonderful experience for us all just to be part of but to come back with prizes as well - just amazing!!
"There were over 200 competitors from Scotland, England, USA and Canada over the two days of competition and we were awarded 2 x 1st, 3 x 3rd, 2 x 4th, 5th and special.
"To finish off the weekend, dancers over 8 years old who auditioned successfully got to take part in the Take Us 2 The Magic Parade where over 500 dancers from Scotland, England, USA, Canada, Isle of Man, Republic of Ireland, Kuwait and Dubai were part of.
"The streets were lined with people watching and cheering - what a feeling dancing through Main Street Disney.
"A fantastic time had by all with great dancing, great results and most importantly making wonderful memories to cherish."
