Dance stars step out in style in their bids for TV crowns
TALENTED TV contestants from Macclesfield are using their fancy footwork to lead the way on primetime shows.
Ella Wharton, 16, from Tytherington, and Esme Byrne, 14, from Macclesfield, are part of Vale - who are now down to the final seven on BBC1’s The Greatest Dancer.
And Paralympian Libby Clegg, 29, originally from Bollington, survived a skate off to be one of the final five in ITV’s Dancing on Ice.
Ella and Esme are part of a 16-strong group - from Vale Studios in Stockport - and have Strictly star Oti Mabuse as their mentor.
In a world-themed week they wowed judges with their Cairo dance - which told the story of an Egyptian queen and her female army.
Judge Cheryl Cole said: “Everything was raised again to a different level, you are the perfect example of getting the challenge and rising to it.
“That was an absolutely fantastic performance.”
The girls will now take part in Saturday’s ballroom-themed show, when voting support from the Macclesfield public is even more vital as it is a style unfamiliar to them.
Ella’s mum Francesca Wharton said: “Ella is enjoying herself so much.
“She is tired as she is dancing and rehearsing every day but she is loving it.
“They are all very excited, it would be great for them to go all the way but they are just enjoying it week to week.”
In Dancing on Ice,
Libby, who is the show’s first blind contestant, and her professional skating partner were in the bottom two couples.
But they survived a skate off against Maura Higgins, who is known from fellow reality TV show Love Island.
Mum-of-one Libby has Stargardt’s Macular Dystrophy, a deteriorating eye condition that gives her only slight peripheral vision in one eye.
She joined Macclesfield Harriers at the age of nine and won gold medals at the 2016 Paralympics in Rio De Janeiro as well as silvers at the London and Beijing games.
The Greatest Dancer will be shown on Saturday Evening, Dancing on Ice on Sunday evening.