AN AWARD winning dance company is celebrating after sweeping the competition on a trip to Los Angeles.

Freak Dance, who are based in Radcliffe, took 17 dancers along to the Dance Excellence competition to test their skills with the best.

They competed in five separate events along with 26 other countries.

The competition which ran from April 9 to 15, included a combination of jazz, musical theatre, variety, hip hop and lyrical and the team won in every event.

Freak Dance owner Aeron Lloyd-Booth, aged 30, from Radcliffe, said: “I am immensely proud of this team because I know how hard they have trained for the event.

“It feels like all of their hard work has paid off and I am glad that they represented the north west along with myself and the company so amazingly.

“We were competing with other people from countries like New Zealand, Australia, China and Canada so I am just so proud.

“As a result of the trip, two of our students were offered scholarships to go and train with the Young America company and hopefully to join them.”

One of the dancers who made the trip, Ben Warwick, aged 18, from Radcliffe, said: “The whole experience was wonderful from start to finish.

“Everyone was so passionate and it was so inspiring to work with some of the industry professionals and some of the most amazing and talented dancers and master teachers.

“I couldn’t have asked for a better experience.”

Freak Dance Company was set up in 2010 and has won numerous awards since. Students have gone on to perform in high end music videos and have gained places at some of the UK’s best dance colleges.

Auditions have already been announced for the next trip to Los Angeles in 2019, with a younger team being put together.. For more information visit www.freak-dance.co.uk