Blackwood dance troupe’s Blackpool success

Studio 54, located in Blackwood, was opened by Jenna Curtis nine years ago and is full of a wide variety of dancers of all ages and abilities. 

There are more than 120 dancers in the group, across multiple age groups, performing musical theatre and hip-hop style dances.

The group’s Insanity Dance teams recently went to Blackpool for the UDO World Championships, where they placed as fourth best dance troupe in the world, alongside their coach of the past six years, Onyx Uwandulu. 

Studio 54’s Insanity came fourth in the world (Image: Jenna Curtis) Studio 54 have already had a number of exciting performance opportunities this year, including performing at Disneyland Paris and Alton Towers already this year.

A total of 21 dancers took to the stage at Blackpool where various age groups and styles had success.

After a very successful week the dancers came away with a very impressive fourth place in the world in the under 18 beginners category, as well as a number of other individual awards. 

Cyan (left) and Kene secured individual awards (Image: Jenna Curtis) Kene Uwandulu came second in the under 16s novice category, Cyan Vaughan was third in the under 16s beginners category. 

Kene and Cyan both also had success in their paired performances, alongside their partners Nya Vaughan and Lucy-Jo Pawley respectively. 

Kene Uwandulu and Nya Vaughan came sixth in the under 16 novice category, while Cyan Vaughan and Lucy-Jo Pawley placed in fourth position in the under 16 beginners category. 

There were also a number of paired performances that garnered success (Image: Jenna Curtis) Head coach Jenna Curtis said: “All of our dancers did themselves and us proud, many making quarters and semi finals even some of those being as young as six years old. 

“We couldn’t be more proud, all weekend their showed support for one another and other dance teams from other countries and schools even teaming up with Kelly Williams’ School of dance last minute for a ‘Welsh Combo’ crew battle. 

“A huge well done to everyone who competed this year in worlds with over 60 countries competing against one another and 4000 competing dancers it really was a tough competition.

“We would like to say a massive thank you to all our sponsors, namely Orbis Education and Care, New Horizons Estate Agents and Blackwood Town Council along with all the local community.” 

Studio 54 are set to perform in Las Vegas in October 2026 (Image: Jenna Curtis) Studio 54 are now working towards the National Entertainment Awards where they will be competing in London’s O2 in November and then Vegas in 2026.

However, they have an exciting training opportunity coming up in October, as they will be training with well-known dance group Diversity and their leader, Ashley Banjo in London.