Last weekend 17^th-18^th June 2017 saw a team from Great Britain travel to Frankfurt for the Mainhatten Cup 2017, Wheelchair Dance Sport Competition.

The team was made up of Para Dance Sport Team GB competitors, Gary Lyness and Paula Moulton along with 4 members of Strictly Wheels club who competed in the Debutante section.

This was the first international competition for the Strictly Wheels debutantes so it was a nervous outing for the pairs, even with UK National titles under their belts.

The weekend kicked off with WPDS Freestyle Singles and Combi events.

Following re-classification back into Class 2, Paula and Gary took to the floor in the Combi Freestyle 2 event against 8 couples.  They danced an extended version of their popular routine from their Britain’s Got Talent audition.

The judges this time were not as fearsome as Simon Cowell, but still as appreciative of the routine with the couple placing 4^th overall.  The event was clinched by the current European Champions from Poland, Marek Zaborowski and Kasia Bloch who have dominated freestyle combi for the last year with their compelling contemporary routine.

All the Debutante couples danced on Saturday afternoon.  Competing both for Great Britain and against each other, Lloyd and Goz, Oscar and Patricia took to the floor for the Debutante Combi 1 event.  After a nervous first round, then soon settled down and danced a great final with beaming smiles that warmed the audience watching.

Current UK Champions, Lloyd and Goz were pipped to the post by Germany and Austria taking Bronze for GB with Oscar and Patricia closely behind in 4^th place.

A quick partner swap and Oscar and Goz were in the Debutante Duo 1 final, dancing so well they were in a tie for 1^st place against the strong Austrian team who just clinched the Gold on points leaving GB with Silver Medal.

Paula said “We’re so proud of our dancers in their first major competition, they danced well and most importantly enjoyed themselves on the dance floor.  They’re now feeling inspired to push on and keep dancing and compete more for Great Britain”.

Sunday was the day for Conventional Singles and Latin.  Poland’s Kasia Bloch continued her flurry of Golds taking the Single Ladies 2 title against a strong field of over 10 dancers.

Gary and Paula danced for Team GB in the Latin Combi 2 event with 8 couples on the floor.  They danced confidently through the first round and heat and were extremely pleased to make the final placing 6^th.  Top spots went again to the polish couple of Marek and Kasia with a bronze to one of the home couples from Germany, Stefan and Vanessa.

Gary said “We weren’t sure if we would make the final given the strong competition, especially from the Asian region.  Winning over couples from Hong Kong and Japan to make the final is a great result for us.  We have a new trainer this year, Accursio Romeo, so we have new choreography which is always a challenge, so we’re really pleased to get this result early on. We now start the hard work with Accursio to hone technique and presentation in preparation for the World Championships in Belgium in October”.

Full results and round up are on the World Para Dance Sport website.

Photos from the weekend are on our Facebook page!