Fusion win big at All-Ireland competition

Cavan dance school Fusion were celebrating a most successful weekend when team members picked up 12 trophies in the national Junior Back To Hip Hop Competition that was run in the Basketball Arena in Tallaght, Dublin, last Sunday.

Organised by Spectrum Dance, this is the All-Ireland for hip hop and freestyle dance. “We didn't do too badly,” a modest Alicia Treanor says of the dance school's impressive haul.

Under the guidance of Fusion founder and lead teacher Aysha Treanor, Alicia's sister, the Cavan participants scooped awards in a range of categories including first in the 'Dance Crew' class.

“The kids did brilliantly. We came home with 12 trophies. We really cleaned up, which is quite an achievement for a Cavan crew,” Alicia told the Celt.

Teams from across the country participated in the competition: “We had 17 young people taking part in competitions. There were a total of 45 people from Cavan there for the event. There were about 50 kids competing in each category, there were literally thousands of kids from all over Ireland taking part in the competition.”

Having competed in qualifying heats earlier in the day, the competition saw finalists flaunting their best moves: “Obviously we were hoping to do well, but we never expected our young dancers to do as well as they did. We placed higher than some of the most established hip hop schools in the country, schools that have been wining competitions for over 30 years. For us to beat them was such an achievement,” Alicia explained.

The dance teacher says the pupils and her sister get credit for the success: “Aysha teaches the competition classes. She started teaching when she was 14. There was no one else in Cavan to teach hip hop at the time. We also have fun classes as well as the competition classes.”