Five talented young dancers from the Co Armagh area are celebrating an extraordinary achievement after qualifying for the ‘Dance World Cup’ – the world’s largest all-genre dance competition, often described as the ‘Olympics of Dance’.
After facing fierce competition from across Northern Ireland, Zara McCombe (7), Leo Deveney (9), Darcy Deveney (11), Casey Leigh Corrigan (13) and Haley Wong (18), have secured their place as soloist dancers in multiple styles, across Acro, Ballet, Contemporary, Lyrical, Jazz and Hip hop.
The dancers, who train at LMSchool of Dance, Armagh, earned their places through a highly competitive video audition process, with 1400 entries from Northern Ireland, impressing international judges and booking their tickets to the world stage.
And this year, they will travel to Dublin to represent Team Northern Ireland at the global finals.
The Dance World Cup features over 120,000 competitors from more than 62 countries, with dancers aged four to 25 battling it out. Only those who achieved a minimum qualifying score of 80% are invited to attend the finals, making this an incredible honour for any dancer.
Behind the dancers’ success is their inspirational teacher ‘Laura Baird’, who opened LMSchool of Dance in 2017, and has grown a thriving dance family, teaching over 230 children, aged three to 18, four days a week across the community.
“This is a dream come true for our dancers,” said Laura. “They have worked so hard, shown incredible dedication and now they are about to represent Northern Ireland on a worldwide stage – I couldn’t be prouder.”
As these incredible dancers prepare to take to the world stage in Dublin in July 2026, they are turning to their local community for support.
International competitions come with a significant cost for the dance school and families, including travel, Team Northern Ireland Kits, accommodation and training, therefore they are asking for the Armagh community to get behind them and help make this dream a success.
Any local businesses who would like to support the team on their remarkable journey are invited to get in touch with Laura Baird (founder of LMSchool Of Dance).
In return, the school will proudly promote your company across their social media platforms and community networks, as a thank-you for their backing in inspiring a group of young dancers, and together make these Armagh stars a name on a world stage.
Laura has also launched a GoFundMe page to help ensure all five dancers get their opportunity to blow the judges away!
