Brentwood School dance scholar is tip top tapping

Dance scholar extraordinaire, Abigail Oxley, will be tip tapping her way to the All England Dance (AED) national finals having impressed judges with her skillful footwork in an exceptional trio of categories.

Abigail’s impressive performances in the recent AED regional competitions mean that the Year 7 student joins a list of elite school dancers who are achieving considerable national success. Abigail will compete in three classes: tap group, tap duet and tap solo.

Dance and Drama Teacher, Miss Sara Benamri, said: “Abigail’s dedication, commitment and passion for dance clearly knows no bounds. Reaching the Nationals in three categories is a sensationally rare achievement for one so young and pays testament to her considerable work ethic and determination.

“Abigail has made an impressive start to her time at Brentwood, already participating in a range of performing opportunities from musicals to dance shows. I am very much looking forward to watching her develop and grow as a performer over the next few years and know that her journey in the Performing Arts at Brentwood School will be truly exciting. Keep up the good work Abigail!”

Abigail started dancing at the tender age of three and entered her first competition just four years later. ”My first competition dance was a song and dance duet with my partner Isabelle”, she explained. “Then we started a tap duet at the age of eight. I find competitions very fun and interesting because I can meet new people and can achieve medals.”

Reaching the AED national finals is a gruelling process with dancers having to be ‘en pointe’ in local and regional qualifiers with only the top three performers from each region making it through to the national final.

This will be the second time Abigail has qualified for regionals, the first was in 2018 when she was just nine years old and she competed in three disciplines, tap solo, tap duet and ballet. “Only the ballet group got through that year achieving 2nd place and unfortunately we didn’t place at Nationals,” she explained.

“I qualified for regionals this year with my tap solo, tap duet, tap group and ballet group. All three tap numbers got through achieving 1st for my tap group, 1st for my tap duet and 2nd for my tap solo. The ballet group didn’t place in a hard section.

“Regionals is my favourite competition because you can compete against the best dancers from the region and it is the best way to test your dance skills. As I prepare for next month’s Nationals, I am excited and can’t wait for this amazing experience.”

We wish Abigail the best of luck!