Twinkle-toed young dancers are celebrating a record success after winning a clutch of medals at the Dance World Cup competition.

Pupils from the Totnes School of Dance returned from the finals held in San Sebastian, Spain with an armful of medals between them.

The 28-strong team, aged between 10 and 23, scooped a whopping eight gold medals, six silver and two bronzes after competing in individual, duet and group categories in ballet, contemporary, tap, musical theatre and national dance.

To boot, the school’s senior pointework ballet group scored the highest overall marks in the competition, and its musical theatre group ‘Holiday Inn’ was awarded the Most Outstanding Senior Group title.

More than 5,000 dancers from 47 countries competed at the 2021 finals, with some overseas entrants live streaming their dances due to Covid-19 travel restrictions.

Dance school principal, Louise Knapman, said: “We are celebrating record success from the 2021 dance World Cup Finals bringing home 16 medals after an incredibly hard 18 months due to the Covid pandemic.

“This year proved to be even harder than previous years as we were forced to take our classes over zoom for much of the pandemic, and once we could return to the studio strict social distancing rules were also adhered to.

“Pupils have shown exceptional tenacity and commitment throughout this difficult time and have been rightly rewarded with remarkable results.

“Their dedication and focus has been nothing less than exceptional.

“As a school we pride ourselves on team spirit, and we have proved that working together as a team really does pay off.

“Watching the growth of our pupils, both as a team and individually, has been incredible.

“We are very proud of each one of them.”

The success of the talented Totnes dancers in San Sebastian also helped England to be declared the winning country at the world finals.