Benbecula dancers win US titles
Two talented young Western Isles dancers have bagged the titles of US Open Champions to add to their already impressive string of honours.
Carly MacKay is the Under14 US Open Preliminary Champion from a field of hundreds of international dancers, and Naomi Menzies is the Under-11 US Beginners Champion – brilliant achievements for both.
They are members of the Benbecula-based Laird Dance Academy (LDA), which specialises in Irish dancing tuition.
LDA and its dancers secured 45 medals, eight gold, 13 silver and seven bronze, from the US Open championships, which were staged virtually at Lake Erie, to add to those won at the recent Australasian championships.
Academy teacher Lorna Laird told the Lochaber Times: ‘We’re absolutely delighted at what the school has achieved.
‘The Laird Dance Academy has now taken medals at world, European, national and international levels, a phenomenal achievement for a small school based in Benbecula. Carly is the current European silver medallist having competed in Maastricht against a huge field of international dancers in April 2019, although unfortunately this year’s event fell foul of the pandemic.
‘She’s also a world gold medallist, again, won in Maastricht and has won countless medals at Scottish and British levels. She’s never taken part in the US Open before now, so to win it at the first attempt is something extremely special.’
Since lockdown the dance school has been practising in virtual classes run by Lorna from the kitchen in her home.
‘I felt it was important to try and keep the classes going for the children to help them through the lockdown since they couldn’t even meet with their friends and were confined to their homes,’ she said.
‘They were fantastic and thoroughly enjoyed taking part in the online classes allowing them at least a bit of normality.
‘They competed in the virtual Australasian Open a month ago, securing 10 gold medals, 17 silver medals, 24 bronze medals and placed in 97 different competitions in total which was an amazing result for them all.’