TWO teenagers have been crowned the best junior sequence dancers in the country.

Emily Haworth, 14, of Sycamore Close, Rishton, and her partner, Adam Bynert, 15, of Slipper Hill, Foulridge, have been dancing together at Sanderson’s Dance and Fitness Centre, Nelson, for three years, dedicating hours each day to their passion.

All their hard work paid off in style at the annual British Championship at the Winter Gardens in Blackpool last week where they beat more than 50 competitors from the UK and Isle of Man to claim the Four Dance British Championship Trophy. They were also named Boy and Girl Champions.

Emily’s mum, Denise Haworth, 46, said: “I’m so proud of them both because they’ve worked so hard for it. They’ve earned it over the years.

“They are absolutely dedicated. It’s their lives.”

Emily began dancing aged nine after watching her older sister Clare take her dance teaching exams.

The St Wilfrid’s C of E High School, Blackburn, pupil now wants to follow in her sister’s footsteps and take teaching exams after her GCSEs.

The partners were paired up at age 11 by Adam’s mum Jackie who runs Sanderson’s and takes their classes.

Jackie said: “Adam didn’t really show an interest in dancing until he was about 11 even though he spent a lot of time with me at the dance studio and his three sisters, Gemma, Jessica and Emily, have all been British Champions too. Then one year he decided he wanted to enter a competition and it went from there.

“He combines it with a very serious attitude to fitness, like an athlete would approach a sport, and I think in the future he’d like to go into teaching fitness and dance as a combination.

“They have had a lot of tough competition this year and they’ve really had to up their game.

“We’re all very proud of them both.”

Sequence dancing is a combination of standard ballroom and latin dances, including waltz, quickstep, foxtrot, rumba, with everyone dancing the same 16 bar routine together.