Champion dancer Daisy King is the first from Aberdeen to be invited to compete with Team Scotland in the prestigious Dance World Cup Finals.
The 17-year-old competes at championship level in ballet, modern, and song and dance, and later this month, she will travel to San Sebastian in Spain.
She was asked to join the team by Nadine Mckenzie Judge, owner of McKechnie School of Dance and Performing Arts.
Daisy has been dancing since she was just three years old at Aberdeen Academy of Performing Arts.
She began dancing competitively from the age of seven and has travelled around Scotland, even venturing as far as London and Paris to compete.
“I just enjoy the freedom of it,” she explained. “I enjoy being able to express myself in a way without words and I think it’s so creatively expressive.
“You can choose how you want to portray emotion and everything – it makes me feel amazing.”
‘Once she’s committed that’s it’
Daisy has just finished her sixth year at Harlaw Academy, but this hasn’t stopped her from training.
Throughout her final year, she has been making the 248-mile round trip from Aberdeen to Grangemouth twice a week for rehearsals.
Fiona Macdonald proudly described her daughter as a “team player” and “committed” to the competition.
She said: “Daisy just finished Harlaw, she’s done this all through studying for her exams.
“She’s been going to rehearsals, still competing as well as studying for two Advanced Highers. Once she’s committed that’s it, she’s a team player.”
Each year, the Dance World Cup attracts around 20,000 dancers from across 62 countries.
It is the largest all-genre competition and is described as the “Olympics of dance”. Each country has four places at the World Finals, with 6,000 dancers representing their country at the finals.
The judges include a diverse panel of international dancers, recognised as some of the best tutors and famous in their own genres.
‘It’s amazing just to be asked’
Daisy described it as a “massive honour” to be dancing with the team and said she was “very lucky” to have been invited to join them.
She said: “It’s amazing, I’ve been kind of waiting a long time to go.
“It’s such a good opportunity that a lot of people don’t get, it’s amazing to just be asked to do it as well.”
The teen will be competing in the Song and Dance group and in the Junior Show Dance as well.
Daisy and her mum have launched a GoFundMe to help raise money for the trip to Spain.
They have set a goal of £4,000 and have raised £600 so far.
“We’ll get there by hook or by crook,” Miss Macdonald said. “I don’t give up so easily.
“We’ve sacrificed a lot over the years, we’ll continue to do it until she can get there – there’s always a way.”