Haul of 150 trophies in a year for 5 young dancers at Blairgowrie school

By Cheryl Peebles

August 24 2022, 6:00am

Dancers Lucy Patton, Elizabeth Rudge, Erynn Henderson ,Michalina Maluk and Ashley Morrison proudly display the collection of trophies they have collected. Pictures by Gareth Jennings / DCT Media.

Five dancers from a Blairgowrie school have amassed an incredible 150 trophies between them in just a year.

Ashley Morrison, 14, Erynn Henderson, 14, Michalina Maluk, 10, Lucy Patton, 13, and Libby Rudge, 9, are pupils of Linda Napier at Strathmore School of Dance.

The Highland dancers collected the prizes at competitions across Scotland and even as far afield as Canada.

They include awards won locally at Strathmore Highland Games in June.

Michalina Maluk, 10, admires one of the trophies.

What’s even more impressive is that the girls stayed on top of their game despite losing two years of in-person classes during the pandemic.

While classes were halted by Covid at the school’s studios they continued to practice their art at home in sessions Linda run over Zoom.

The trophies are those they have won since competitions resumed after lockdown.

They gathered their silverware together for a special celebration at the dance studios in Reform Street – and our photographer was there to capture the occasion.

Trophies were gathered together at the dance studios to show how well the five have done over the past year.

Proud Linda said: “Seeing this amount of trophies won by only five dancers over 12 months made me extremely proud.

“None of us had any idea there were to be as many trophies.

“We are lucky to have such hard working dancers and supportive parents.”

Linda ran her own dance school, Napier School of Dance, for many years in Arbroath and Forfar but now concentrates on training the Highland dancers at Jenni Peters’ Strathmore School of Dance.

The school runs classes for children from pre-school to the end of secondary school in various types of dance, including ballet and contemporary.