Friday Night. 18 excited girls. Muted sounds of the Black Eyed Peas coming from the Games Hall. It could only mean one thing. The DGOne dance competiton had finally arrived.

With backcombed hair, multi-coloured eye makeup and leggings, you could be forgiven for thinking that you had been beamed ‘Back to the 80’s’ in a time machine, however it was just the costumes of the girls, ready to compete against 3 other groups in the Junior section of the Regional dance competition.

There were two groups, Group One was made up of Georgia Kerr of S1, Jenny Booth, Chloe Case, Adrienne Gilmour, Megan Grace, Regan Johnson, Karen Little, Michelle McCleary, Shona Priest and Amber Scott of S2. They were dancing to Riverside by Sydney Samsung and Boom Boom Pow by the Black Eyed Peas . Group Two consisted of Paige Goodridge, Abbie Jamieson, Charlotte Livingston, Amy and Ashley Oliver, Fiona Paterson, Sophie Simonaitis and Jenna Thomson all of S1. They were going to be dancing to Starstruck by Lady GaGa.

There was a minor panic at the beginning of the evening when the pre-arranged transport failed to show up, however Mr Proudfoot and Miss McIlroy used their super teacher powers and managed to conjure up another coach which got us to Dumfries with 5 minutes to spare. I don’t think I’ve ever seen girls get ready so fast.

The first half of the competition was the Junior Section and Castle Douglas were 1st and 3rd in the line-up, numbers which would prove to be auspicious later on in the evening. Encouraged by Miss McIlroy and Mrs Miller the 1st group went up on stage. They gave a thumbs up to the DJ, the music kicked in and they were off, dancing and smiling as if their lives depended on it. The audience were great, cheering and clapping and encouraging all the dancers. After a short wait, it was time for the second group to get up. Both groups showed off polished and well practised dance routines which were original and totally choreographed by the girls themselves.

After watching the rest of the competition and thanking our lucky stars that we weren’t in the senior section, (there was some serious competition there), and a tense wait while the judges deliberated, it was time for the results.

And in 3rd place……… Castle Douglas High School with Starstruck. The excited girls ran up on stage to collect their medals and have their photos taken. 2nd place was announced and we all held our breath in anticipation for the winners. And in 1st place……………… Castle Douglas High School with Riverside /Boom Boom Pow. What a result, both groups going home with medals! And a further surprise was to come, Jenna Thomson won the prize for being the most noticeable dancer in the whole of the Junior competition. A fantastic result and well done to the girls, they all worked really hard.

With the amount of sweets that had been consumed that evening, the excitement of winning and the adrenaline from dancing, the coach ride home was certainly an experience. A great night was had by all. Miss Mcilroy was certainly ready for her bed by the time we all got home, and she hadn’t even done any dancing.