Dancers have been celebrating walking away from a London-wide championship with two awards.

Romford Recorder: Copper Box arena school dance championship, Abbs Cross AcademyCopper Box arena school dance championship, Abbs Cross Academy (Image: Archant)

Performers from Abbs Cross Academy, Abbs Cross Lane, Hornchurch, were crowned the overall winners of the London Youth Games Dance Championships, coming top in both the Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4 categories after impressing judges Lena Dee, Nathan Ramsay and Dharmz.

Laura Monaghan, head of dance at the academy, said: “I’m really proud, we were so emotional.

“It means so much to the school and students.”

More than 600 secondary school students, made up of 47 groups from 27 boroughs, rocked the Copper Box Arena, in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, Newham, last week.

All the troupes had to create an original dance, accompanied by music of their choice, and the day featured a host of styles, from street to jazz, contemporary to tap and everything in between.

AX Juniors dance troupe, made up of students from Year 8 and Year 9 at Abbs Cross Academy, performed a jazz dance to Soloman Burke’s Proud Mary, while the AX dance company of sixth form students performed a combat-inspired dance to Madonna’s Die Another Day.

Part of the nationwide School Games – the largest youth sports festival in Europe – the event was delivered by the Exercise Movement and Dance Partnership, the Greater London Authority and Sport England.

Nicky Affleck, development manager at the London Youth Games, said: “It was a great event – the standard of the dancing was really, really high.

“The investment going into grass roots dancing is obviously having an impact, because you could really see the improvement from last year.

“You could see it meant a lot to everyone competing and they all looked like they were enjoying themselves.”